Utterly Unbelievable
by fantasygirl22
Summary: Bella is dreading her day at the mall, but the unexpected happens and her life starts to change rapidly. Things she never expects to happen occur. All human, rated T for future chapters which will be extremely fluffy and possibly lemony :p
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey everyone! Ok so this is my first fan fic ever so I apologize ahead of time if it sucks. I decided to start writing fan fic because I thought it would be a good character and story line practice to ****make it easier for my imagination to run wild. I am just starting to write my own book, but it will probably turn into a series. ****At the moment, I have no clue where I'm going to go with this fan fic I'm just going to write as it comes to me just like this first chapter did. Let me know what you think! **

**Thanks,**

**Amanda**

**Bella's POV**

_Here we go... Again_I thought to myself as I regrettably turned my radio off and hopped out of my truck to start my reluctant trek to the unwelcoming doors of Seattle's Northgate mall. Did I really think that parking across the street was going to make this trip any different than the last thirty? _No, just wishful thinking_.

In place of my radio I grabbed my iPod out of my purse, clicked the hold off to select my favorite band to listen to. They always made me feel the way I wanted to if I selected the right songs; happy, sad, relieved, in love (although it hadn't actually happened yet) and yes, even furious. What I wouldn't give to be able to see them live in concert. Mitch Allen was the epidemy of brilliant. I hit the play button, and wouldn't you know it? The most fitting song for this moment played first: _The Best is Yet to Come._ If it wasn't one of my favorite songs by them I would have pressed the next button. So instead, I gritted my teeth and went to stare irony in the face and prepare for a very long day and possibly, I cringed, night.

I started to walk towards the dreaded doors.

_You see yourself being so small  
Running into every brick wall_

Why the hell were the doors surrounded by bricks? Was one of my favorite bands really writing songs to make fun of my clumsiness? I questioned thoroughly irritated with myself.

_It's not as far as you can go  
The road is twisting turning_

Oh, and now it's making making fun of my lack of direction.

_A life is living learning  
There's so much more for you to know_

Chorus  
_If you could lock the past away  
Step back through the doorway  
This ride has just begun  
If I could change your point of view  
Is there someway I can show you  
The best is yet to come_

Here is were I finally made it through the doors and sighed. Snap out of it Bella! The world isn't out to get you, stop analyzing every two words as if they were meant for you! I continued my journey to the Starbucks where I would wait for my doom as obliviously as I possibly could.

_Not every problem can be  
Solved so easily  
Not every answer is the one  
Above the flood of emotion  
__It's all about forward motion  
Define your place in the sun_

Ha ha I silently chuckled to myself, this day was going to be filled with more emotion than a new mom in an hour.

Chorus

_Try to hide  
It's all inside  
You can find a place where the pain and guilt can fall away_

Why was I always feeling guilty for something I didn't help? Ooook, definitely stopping the analyzing now.

_  
If you're spitting truth  
Bulletproof  
Crashing through the walls that separate me and you_

_Now you'll find with everything you lose  
Your path clears with everything you choose_

_If you could lock the past away  
Step back through the doorway  
This ride has just begun  
Change your point of view  
Is there someway I can show you  
The best is yet to come_

Chorus

_Is there someway I can show you  
The best is yet to come_

WOW! I thought as I stood in the Starbucks line up, I managed to make it through half of that song without analyzing it to shreds to match my life.

I got to the front of the line and ordered a Venti, 3 pump, extra whip and caramel drizzle, caramel frappucino and decided to get a slice of lemon raspberry loaf. As I waited for my drink I saw the most beautiful person that existed of the male species. My jaw dropped, as did my iPod, which snapped me out of my bewildered state. I quickly checked for damage on my iPod, shut it off and shoved it back into it's designated pocket in my purse. Just then, my drink was called. Relieved to have so many distractions all at once I grabbed my drink and headed over to the condiment stand with my head down to grab a straw. I should have known that walking with my head down was the worst thing for me to do. I was just turning away from the condiment stand when I hit something that felt like rock. Then it hit me, the rocks scent was absolutely phenomenal, I had never smelt anything soo absolutely wonderful in my life! I looked up and stuttered my apology. But the stutter wasn't because I was embarrassed like I should have been, it was because the apparant rock that I ran intowas none other than the male beauty I had spotted a moment ago.

"S-s-s-sor-rry, aaa--a-ll m-my fault." Geez get a grip Bella, learn how to talk I thought, " I'm the last person on Earth that should be allowed to walk, I don't know what I was thinking walking with my head down."

"Not a problem," He calmly said silently laughing as he smiled a crooked smile that was absolutely heart melting.

I blushed a smile back to him and went to sit at a table. Now that all my distractions from the real reason I was at a mall were over the dread and guilt swept back over me. I was still ten minutes early so I decided to pass the time by watching the people pass by the Starbucks. No one really all that interesting looking passed by for th first seven minutes and seven seconds. In those first seven minutes I was day dreaming about the gorgeous boy, no man, for be definitely knew about how the world worked. I was surprised at how much about him that I was able to capture in the short few seconds I had glanced of him. His very attractive messy bronze hair, his scent which was along the lines of honey and lilac; and if I knew what the sun smelt like that would probably fit as well because it was a happy scent, his perfectly toned body, and just how heheld him self. He was breath taking.

That was when I saw her, a girl, my age who looked horrible, not because she was immensely ugly, because believe me she was just as stunning as the man I had just been fantasizing about, but because I wasn't sureif I had ever seen anyone look soo miserable before. I thought I had it bad. I felt horrible for her and I didn't even know what had happened. That was when my doom tapped me on the shoulder.

**A/N Sooo what did you think? Was it any good? I have chapter 2 all planned out I'm going to start typing it up right away :D I was going to make it a really long chapter at first, but then I decided that suspense is good. I know I love to hate it lol Anyways it should be up in a couple of hours as long as everything goes well. If not I'll post it later tonight when I get home from work. Thanks for reading!**

**Amanda**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alrighty, so here's my second attempt at this! Here it goes! :D**

"Hey Bella," Jessica managed to choke out between her sobs.

"Awe Jess! What's wrong?" I asked even though I had a feeling that I knew exactly what was wrong, again. I got up out of my chair to embrace Jessica in a hug. To my surprise, as soon and I had got my arms around her she pushed me away.

"No Bella," she scowled through her tear stained face, " Not this time, I won't be comforted by the person causing my pain."

I was absolutely shocked. "Excuse me?" I questioned.

"Bella how are even so surprised? For the 4 years you've been the cause for all the problems in my life!"

"May I ask as to how I'm the cause exactly?"

"Why do you think Mike and I have been on and off for the last 3 years? He keeps running back to you!" Jessica yelled. We both received glares from the other customers who were trying to have civilized conversations.

"Jess calm down, you know that am not interested in Mike in that way at all, and that I never have been. We're just really good friends, we worked with each for crying out loud. You're _going_ to get close to people you spend that much time with." I reconciled. But instead of being reassuring, it made matters worse.

"That's exactly my point! You see him more than I do! How do I know he doesn't come home with you at 10:00 at night after you're done work? At lunch you guys are always immersed in conversations and I always have to fight to get my two cents in!"

I rolled my eyes, riiight, Jessica having to fight to get words in. "Jessica! Look at me! Seriously, if you don't know me well enough by now to be able to tell that Newton is not my type you should be ashamed. We have been friends since the day that I moved to Forks Sure he's tried numerous amounts of times to date me but I don't want him as a boy friend at all."

"But every time we break up he says it's because he likes you too much and he doesn't want to hurt me any more than he already has, a-a-and... a-and... and it's happened so many times, I just can't take it any more. I'll never date the foul Newton again, and I'll never be friends with you again either! Good bye Bella have a good life with Mike."

And that's when the tears really started pouring from Jessica's eyes. Before I was able to defend myself and try to make her feel better she turned away from me and ran out of the Starbucks and into the mayhem that was now the mall.

As per-usual she made me feel extremely guilty, but something was different this time. It felt like she finally meant what she had told me so many times before. I wasn't the biggest fan of Jessica, but she was still good to have around if you needed to make an appearance somewhere and didn't want to go alone. So, almost regrettably I got up and walked over to the nearest pay phone, I inserted my quarter and dime, and then dialed Jessica's cell number.

"Hello, you've reached Jessica. I'm a little busy at the moment but I should be able to get back to you within the next couple of hours." Wow that was definitely a new voice mail message, she sounded out of breath, but there was happy tone to it and you could also hear pleasurable laughter in the background. That went to show how often I actually called her, I had never heard that voice mail message before, and I doubted, considering recent events, that it was newly updated. My thoughts did not linger long on the voice mail however, because I was extremely irritated that I had just wasted my only change on a call that went straight to voice mail.

I stood by the pay phone for the next minute pondering what I should do with my now free day and night. As irritated as I was with getting Jessica's voice mail, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to comfort her for the next 12 hours as usual. She usually forgave me right away and I treated her to a movie with the money I pretended to have and then we slept at her place.

I decided that I might as well go and get some of my last minute school supplies. August 28th, already. I couldn't believe how fast the summer zoomed past me. I spent the next hour getting extra paper, pens and pencils. As I was walking out of the store I saw miserable girl again. I still felt bad for her to be in pain, no one that beautiful should look so unhappy. I made the decision to go see if I could comfort her, at least she wouldn't be able to blame me for her problems.

"Are you okay?" I asked the girl.

"Not really," She sighed.

"Anything I can do to help?" I asked as comforting as possible.

"Not unless you can convince my boyfriend to come move here with me."

"Oh, good ol' boy troubles. You're in luck! I may not be able to make him come here, but I can definitely try to comfort you, I'll probably end up spoiling you rotten too!" I teased, "I'm Bella, nice to meet you!" The girl got up and gave me the biggest hug I think I had ever received. She then composed herself with a smile beaming across her face, I never realized how short she was before now. Pixie like, she seemed very elegant and her black spiky hair made her appear very energetic.

"Thanks soooo much Bella, I'm Alice, it's wonderful to meet you too! I think I can foresee us being great friends!"

"So to start this afternoon off, why don't you tell me a little about why you and your boyfriend are living in different cities now." I suggested, "You don't have to if you don't feel comfortable, or ready to tell a complete stranger this. I won't be offended."

"Oh!" She said sounding surprised, "Silly Bella! I have no problem telling you, you're my hero of the day! I just moved to Seattle with my family. My big brother Emmett goes to the University of Seattle and me and my twin brother, Edward, are starting there this year too. My boyfriend back in Chicago, James, was supposed to be coming to Seattle too, but he ended up getting a full scholarship for Juliard or something like that. I didn't really care after he told me we'd literally be on complete opposite ends of the country."

"Ouch, that's a major bummer," I replied, "So where is your family now? I can't believe they left you alone considering the emotional state you were in."

"Ah Bella don't worry, Edward dropped me off, and then he ran into Starbucks grabbed a drink for both of us and came back to meet me."

"So where is he now then?"

"Well, basically, I got ditched. I tend to get extremely carried away when I shop and it scares my brothers quite a bit." Alice laughed at her brothers fear and beamed.

"Note to self, don't go shopping with Alice." With this comment Alice frowned, actually frowned is the wrong word. She gave me a death glare. "Well a couple of shopping trips may be okay." I compromised.

"Great!" Her face lit up again, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearest store. She managed to force me into trying on what seemed like a million outfits that day, some of the clothes ranging from stuff I'd consider to some I'd never even dream of looking good in.

When the mall was closing I sighed in relief. That was the most intense shopping experience of my life, and I had a feeling that if I remained friends with Alice I'd experience much worse. I cringed at the thought.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one spoiling you?" I said to Alice.

"Like I would even let you!" Alice exclaimed, "My family is quite rich, my dad's a doctor, my mom is an interior designer, and they both were born into very successful families. Money is not a problem, we all always spoil everyone. But don't get me wrong Bella! We don't have to buy our happiness we just love to give see other people become happy."

"Well clearly since the money spending thing makes you happy it makes me happy. You were a wreck 5 hours ago, I'm very glad to see you better now. I'm guessing you and James were close." I didn't want to make her depressed again but I wanted to get a grip onto how she felt so I could attempt to make her happy in my own way.

"We were, he was my first long term relationship. We had our ups and downs of course. He gave me a promise ring on our 2 year anniversary. He said we would be together forever." She managed to just barely choke out the last sentence before her strength finally cracked and she burst into tears.

"Come on Alice lets get out of here, it's getting late. We can go get ice cream. My treat, no ifs, ands or buts." It was weird how connected to Alice I was already feeling, I could tell it would be an amazing friendship. Nothing like the one I had with Jessica or any of my other friends; much, much better. "You can crash at my place tonight if you want, we can rent crappy horror movies and pig out on junk food."

Those seemed to be the magic words, because Alice very suddenly stopped crying and looked me in the eyes and gave me another of her bone crushing hugs. "Holy cow Alice!" I murmured, "How the heck did you get so strong? You're so small."

"Emmett and Edward like to work out, I usually join them they're incredibly knowledgeable about health and fitness." I finally managed to loosen Alice's grasp on me and we started to walk back to my old Chevy.

"Bella?" Alice asked me, and I was instantly frightened because she was giving me the puppy dog face. I was afraid of what she was going to ask of me, it must be bad if she already knew she had to use the puppy dog face to sucker me into it.

"Yes Alice?" I replied trying not tremble.

"Can I paint your nails tonight?"

"Of course you can pain my toe nails." I replied trying to be sneaky, not as many people would notice that.

"Thanks Bella!" Alice chimed, "I might as well do your fingernails too while I'm at it. Tonight is going to be so much fun!"

I sighed at the lost battle and started my truck to go to the Blockbuster a few blocks away from my apartment.

**A/N: So I'm aware that it wasn't the greatest chapter, and neither was the last one, but I'm really just trying establish the characters right now. It will start to get better right away I promise. Reviews will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!**

**Amanda**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So this whole story is most likely going to be in Bella's POV so I'm not going to put it before every chapter. If I do decide to change my mind however, you will be notified!**

As soon as the truck started Alice frowned and then turned to glare at me.

"What?" I asked innocently, I had no idea what Alice was going to accuse me of now.

"You're stereo is a piece of crap!" She exclaimed, "Do you even get reception on it?"

"Well sorry I don't seem to be made of money like you!" I snarled back.

"That's okay," Alice chimed, "I've got an iPod _and_ a Belkin cord to attach it to your crummy stereo. Are the speakers any good?"

"They aren't horrible, but my truck is a senior citizen Alice, I'm not sure it's compatible with you high tech iPod equipment." That's when Alice quickly looked down at the stereo, I thought she may start crying again. She looked very disappointed to discover that I was right.

"We're never driving in your truck again Bella. At least not until you get a new stereo."

"Well then you won't be getting rides with me that often, I however will still be driving me around."

"Bella, no offense, but your truck is a piece of crap too. It must be horrible on gas mileage. I should really just pick you up with my car and we'll still save the environment and tons of money."

"Is there a way of me getting out of it? I just wouldn't want to burden you if you had to run off somewhere."

"Silly Bella! I'd just drag you along with me!" And I knew she was completely serious, "We're going to be great friends Bella I just know it."

"So Alice, if you have your own car, then why did Edward drop you off?"

"Oh well he was going to stay with me but he spilled coffee on his shirt. He almost looked like he had fallen in love, which was weird because Edward is always single." She shrugged the idea off, "Then apparently he got called into work. He told me Emmett would come pick me up later, but then I ran into you and it all worked out fabulously in the end!"

"That it did! So any idea for movies tonight?" I figured it was a safe topic, it wouldn't make me spill the beans about Greek God like man I had seen at Starbucks, the love comment made me think of him again.

"Nope but we can browse and randomly pick some movies it's always the best way! Especially when you don't know what you picked, it means you'll always be surprised!"

"Alright! Sounds like a plan!" I agreed as we walked into the doors.

"Good evening ladies," one of the cashiers said as we came in, "Anything that I can help you find?"

"We aren't sure actually," I started.

"We were just going to randomly pick movies actually," Alice interrupted, "Bad breakup" Alice whispered as she patted my back and beamed back at the handsome cashier.

I immediately started to disagree when Alice winked at me, or was it the cashier? Whatever, I decided, I'll let her have her fun. I was curious as to what she was doing, was she planning on flirting or trying to set me up? I was completely bewildered and a little frightened at what the outcome of this trip could be.

"Aaah! I understand," he replied, "Since you said it was going to be random, would you mind if I helped you pick out a few?"

"Most definitely!" Alice agreed.

"Alrighty, sounds like a plan, follow me ladies." I noticed that he had a a faint Texan accent. It fit well with his appearance. He was slightly taller than me and had the most gorgeous shade of blond hair I had ever seen. Both Alice and I remained silent as the cashier zigzagged in and out of the isles while he randomly picked a movies from shelves.

"Okay here we are. Some randoms and some of my favorites." He winked when he finished picking movies and walked us to the cash register. I was pretty sure he was trying to subtly flirt with Alice. No one that gorgeous would try to flirt with me, I was no where near that class.

"Thank you so much for your help," I said quietly.

"Yes, thanks a bunch!" Alice said as she passed him her credit card. He swiped it and waited for the receipt to print out to hand it to Alice for her signature. Alice quickly snatched up the the pen and signed the receipt and handed it back to the cashier. It took her a really long time to sign it too, her name wasn't that long I noticed as I saw her name on her credit card as it was passed back. I shrugged of the thought, maybe she had a hand cramp.

As we were walking passed the cashier to the out door, Alice suddenly stopped, and not so subtly looked the cashier in the eye and winked. Then she grabbed my wrist and darted out of the Blockbuster.

"What was that about?!" I questioned her.

She blushed, something I never thought I'd see Alice do. She seemed like the type of person who was never embarrassed or ashamed. "He was cute so I thought I'd try to set you up with him."

I gaped, "You're kidding right? I'm not in the same league with him at all, you know that right?" I felt like I was questioning her sanity all at the same time.

"Bella," she rolled her eyes as dramatically as possible, "Of course I wasn't trying to set you up! He's mine! He's so adorable! And Bella, you are in the same league as him, you just don't see yourself that way... yet. You have much potential Bella!"

I decided that I didn't want to argue and started to walk into the neighbouring convenient store to stock up on the junk food and pop. This seemed to irritate Alice. Oh well she'd probably just seek her revenge on my nails to make them look that much more fantastic, and therefore making them stick out way more than I ever wanted them to.

Thankfully there was nothing too eventful that happened while we were in the convenient store. Unless, of course, you count me tripping over the stupid welcome mat just inside the doors when we were going in, or when we were leaving and the automatic doors didn't open for me and I was still walking. Apparently I was going to attempt to phase through the solid glass doors without knowing it. Well, as you can imagine that didn't work out so well. Alice laughed continuously about it the whole trip to my place, at least it kept her from nagging me about my lack of a good stereo in my truck.

Finally, I was home and I could just sit back and try to relax while my nails were morphed into what looked like Smarties. Although, I had to admit that if my toe and fingernails were pink, they looked amazing. Alice had ended up giving me a full pedicure and a manicure and my hands and feet felt amazing. Maybe it wasn't so torturous.

After she finished decorating my nails with some subtle rhinestones, we popped in the first movie which was _Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl_. Alice and I had both seen the movie a few times, so we enjoyed laughing at the jokes and predicting the lines together. When that was over we couldn't agree on which movie to watch next. I was all for _The Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ (the original), but Alice wanted to watch _Vanity Fair_.

"Fine!" Alice fumed, "Rock, paper scissors! Best of 3."

"Ssh! People are sleeping in other apartments, it is one in the morning." She glared at me holding out her fist. If she hadn't said rock, paper scissors before hand I would have been afraid she was going to pummel me until I surrendered. "Okay, okay." I placed my fist near hers and we started I surprisingly won the first game rock over scissors. Not so lucky on the other 2 however, she beat me both times with rock too.

I thought that _Vanity Fair_ would have been a good movie if I wasn't half asleep. But despite my sleepy haze, I noticed that one of the very small characters looked very similar to the man that I had seen at Starbucks just over 12 hours ago. With the thought my newly found Greek God, I drifted off into one of the best sleeps I had had in a long time.

**A/N: The story will be picking up very soon! I know where I want to go with it now up to a certain point. Please let me know what you honestly think, I'm not afraid of criticism, I really appreciate it a lot.**

**Amanda**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and alerts everyone! They're so appreciated. I actually had a dream last night that I got a lot of reviews over night saying that it was boring and unimaginative and that I should go back to school and learn how to write hahaha. So when I woke up I was like yay positive reviews! It made my morning made me want to write right away. My mom was very surprised that I was up and moving that early in the morning. Anyhoo, here goes Chapter 4!**

I was awoken very suddenly the next morning due to a finger prodding me in the ribs, "Wake up Bella," the voice of Alice yelled at me.

"Whyyyy?" I mumbled still half asleep, "Sleep is good, I don't have to work until 4:00."

"Well it's 7:00 and I say it's time for you to get up."

"Alice why the hell do I have to be up at 7:00 in the bloody morning when I clearly don't have to."

Alice pouted and said, "I'd say someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but you fell asleep on the couch so that's impossible."

"Ugh, sorry Alice," I apologized, "You just woke up me from one of the greatest dreams of all time."

"OOo, so, what are you waiting for! Spill the goods!" Alice urged.

"Well yesterday I literally ran into the most beautiful man on the face of the planet. And I was just dreaming that he had asked me out and then I was just getting to the date part when you woke me up."

"Oh, well, my apologies! Now get up!" Alice snapped. Just then her phone because to ring. "Hello? Yes mom I'm okay, why wouldn't I be? Well I met someone at the mall and she was making me feel so happy, the happiest I've felt since we've moved here and I guess I just got caught up with all the fun we were having. I should have called, I'm sorry mom but I'm very able to take care of myself. Yeah no worries it won't happen again. sigh I'll be home soon, I'll bring Bella to meet you all too! See you soon! I love you!" With that she hung up the phone.

"So in case you didn't figure it out, you're coming home with me to meet my family."

"That means I really do have to get up now doesn't it?" Alice nodded and pulled me off of the couch which nearly had me falling into the coffee table. Close call. My head almost ran into the corner of it, but Alice was there to almost half pick me up after I had fallen preventing my head from hitting anything. She dragged me to the bathroom where she told me to take what ever human moments I needed to shower and brush my teeth.

As soon as Alice heard the shower turn off she was knocking on the door asking if it was safe to come in yet.

"I have a towel wrapped around me so if you really want to come in you can, but you should be afraid."

"Bella, you're beautiful so stop saying stuff like that," with this comment Alice strode into the bathroom with an evil smirk on her face, holding some of the new clothes she had bought me. I looked at what she had picked and it was actually a fairly reasonable attire. She had a pair of knee length black shorts and a red tank top with a white vest-like shirt to go over top. She threw the clothes at me and walked back out. Something told me this was just a warm up out fit and that worse out fits would come in the future.

I walked out of the washroom wearing my new clothes to have Alice ambush me and push me back into the washroom. She sat me down on the toilet and got to work.

"So what does this dream guy of yours look like?" she asked me.

"He's so stunning, like a Greek God I swear. He had the most perfect body and his face was angelic. He had very untidy bronze colored hair, I'm not sure why but the messy look as always attracted me. He also had the most amazing scent that I have ever smelt, I would have never been able to dream up a scent so amazing." Alice smiled, and it looked like she was silently laughing at a joke that I didn't get to learn.

"He sounds absolutely wonderful Bella, I'm sure you'll meet him again."

"Fat chance," I replied, "Even if I did we're still part of 2 very separate worlds." She shook her head at me and continued with my makeup.

I was thankful that Alice seemed to know not to go very bold on the makeup front. She used a very subtle brown that brought out my eyes, and a little bit of mascara.

"Wow Alice you actually made me look a little more than average. Thanks so much." I turned around to Alice giving me a death glare, yet again. I decided to give her a hug to show her my gratitude.

"Okay, lets go back to my place now," Alice suggested, "But you may want to bring what ever clothes you need for work with you in case you get caught up with my family. They're a riot." She warned.

"Alright sounds good, I can actually just wear what ever I want to work though. It's just an outdoors store so no big deal."

"Is it the Newtons store by any chance?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Oh well Emmett goes there all the time, our family loves hiking and Emmett recommended it to us when we moved here with him."

"That's neat, maybe I've seen him in there before if he's a regular." I shrugged and lead the way out of the apartment, locked the door after Alice was out and we headed down to my truck.

"Oh hey! I need your phone number Bella!"

I nodded and recited my number for her to program into her cell. "Where's your phone?" She asked, "So I can put my number into your phone for you."

I laughed a little bit inside and told her to open my bag and take out the hand sized address book that was probably near the bottom. She looked like she was going to go into shock.

"You don't have a cell phone?" She marveled, then after thinking about it she sighed and grabbed the address book and wrote her name and number down in it, "You need to wake up and join the 21st century Bella, she sneered.

I ignored the comment and pulled out of my parking space, Alice gave me directions to her place, which ended up being only 15 minutes away from mine. When we got there I was amazed at the house, it was absolutely amazing, I couldn't believe a house in Seattle could look like a small castle. I stared up at it in shock.

"Earth to Bella!" Alice called, "Lets go in!"

I hopped out of my truck with my attention still being absorbed by the house which caused me to hit my head on the top of the door frame. "Ouch!" I exclaimed, and tumbled to the ground due to my loss of balance. THWACK! My head hit the pavement and then everything went black and the last thing I heard was Alice asking if I was okay.

"Dad, will she wake up soon?" I heard Alice ask.

"She'll wake up when she's ready Alice she hit her head pretty good," replied a warm chocolate like voice.

I decided it was time to become conscious again so I opened my eyes and slowly sat up. Holy crow! My head felt like it was the size of a watermelon. My forehead was pounding like it had never pounded before, I held my hand against it and cringed when I felt the stitches near the top of my forehead.

"Hey Bella, how are you feeling?" Alice asked me.

"I feel like my head is the size of a workout ball." I heard Alice laugh, which made me smile, and that was slightly painful.

"Hello Bella, I'm Alice's father Carlisle. It's nice to meet you," he held out his hand for me to shake.

"It's nice to meet you too," I replied, "And I mean no discourtesy but how did I get stitches in my head? We aren't at a hospital."

"Silly Bella," Alice replied, "I told you, my dad's a doctor, he had all the stuff here to fix you up."

"Thank you doc," I smiled and looked up at him. Wow he was gorgeous, he reminded me once again of the man in Starbucks. They didn't look alike, but there was just something about him that seemed familiar.

"Please call me Carlisle."

"Sounds good to me, thanks so much Carlisle. How long was I out of it anyways?"

"Only about 15 minutes," Alice chimed, "Where's mom, dad?"

"She ran out to get some groceries, she should be back soon."

"Is anyone else here?" Alice asked curiously.

"Edward is at work again, apparently one of the other managers is really sick and Edward offered to pick up his shifts. Emmett is in the game room playing Wii I believe."

"Awesome! Come on Bella! Time to meet Emmett, you'll love him, he's loads of fun!"

And with that Alice dragged me along to the game room. I was hoping I wasn't going to have to play video games. My hand eye coordination was as good as my walking coordination.

**A/N: My original plan was to have Emmett in this chapter, but I have to go to work in 15 minutes and I didn't want to rush Emmett's introduction because I want to do his character justice. As long as I'm not to tired when I get home from work tonight, I'll probably add chapter 5 which will Emmett and maybe a little bit of other stuff too. Hope you all enjoyed :D Thanks!**

**Amanda**


	5. Chapter 5

Alice started to lead me down to the basement where the game room was. Along the way, I noticed that they didn't really have any pictures of the family up, but instead had some astonishing painting and professional photographs of random, but beautiful things. Before we got to the bottom of the stairs to turn towards me and put one of her index fingers up to her lips to _ssh_ me without making any noise. I nodded, hoping I was in for a good laugh.

Alice silently tip-toed along the hallway to the third door on the right where she crouched down to get ready to spring. Within the second Alice had tackled, who I was assuming to be Emmett, to the floor. I was amazed that she could pull down someone that big from a standing position to a kneeling position so quickly. Alice was definitely stronger than her size gave her credit for. Emmett however, did not look like he was even trying as he silently grabbed the giggling Alice from behind him and flipped her over his head so that her back was flat against floor. Alice struggled to escape but Emmett had her pinned, she wasn't going anywhere.

"One, two, three," I counted slowly out loud while attempting to contain my laughter, "Emmett wins!"

"Bella," Alice snarled, "Who's side are you on?"

"I'm on the grizzly bear's side of course. No point in getting eaten when it can be avoided."

"Thanks a lot Bella, good to know you'll always..." she was cut of by Emmett.

"Be there for me!" Emmett beamed at me, motioning for me to come over the floor where he and Alice were sitting.

Alice sighed at her defeat, "Emmett Bella, Bella Emmett."

"Nice to meet you Emmett," I blushed, he may be as big and as dangerous as a grizzly but he still looked as stunning as his sister. If Edward was this attractive I would have to bring a paper bag to hyperventilate into whenever I came over to their house. I hadn't noticed it before, but the whole family had pale skin, I guessed that I would blend in better with them than most people because of my pale skin.

"You too Bella!" Emmett roared, "Want to play Wii guys?"

"You know it! I'm going to kick your butt at tennis today!" Alice said determined.

"Ha ha! Keep dreaming little sis! I owned you yesterday."

I just sat back and watched, hoping that they wouldn't notice that I wasn't in on the 'fun'. I enjoyed watching their very close tennis game, the score was very close and the best of 5 match took almost an hour. I felt exhausted just watching them. Eventually I drifted into my day dreaming state, my mind took me back to yesterday. I started to think about the Greek God again.

All of a sudden Emmett was staring me right in the face looking into my eyes. He was as close as possible, our noses were almost touching, I just stared back at him the kissing distance was frightening for me although I was pretty sure he wouldn't do anything like that to me. Who in his range of beauty would? After a minute of staring into my eyes Emmett asked, "What are you day dreaming about Bella? You look totally zoned out."

"N-n-nothing," I blushed, and turned my head away so he couldn't look into my eyes any more, they were too mesmerizing I'd spill my guts out if I kept looking into them.

"Hey Alice, does she always blush like this? And do you have any idea as to what she could be day dreaming about?"

"Yes she does blush a lot, I've noticed that too," Alice replied, then she walked over to Emmett and whispered something I his ear, it took a long time for her to finish her whispering too. I didn't think she would tell Emmett about my dream boy, but how well did I really know Alice so far anyways?

When Alice took a step away from Emmett he looked up at her from his sitting position with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and let out a blast of laughter. It reminded me of the the the "blast laugh" from the song "I Love to Laugh" in _Marry Poppins_. And then he couldn't contain his laughter at all and broke down into what would be giggles if he was making any sound.

"What's the joke that I'm missing?" I questioned Alice. She just shrugged, smiled and sat next to me on the floor leaning against the couch.

"Can you please tell me?" I begged, "I'll let you buy me a new stereo for my truck." Alice started to silently laugh at me and shake her head no.

"Bell, it's your turn to get pummeled at tennis by me," Emmett said.

"I hope you know how right you really are, me and video games don't mix at all." Emmett handed me the player 2 Wii-mote and started the tennis game. I was surprised at how natural it felt to swing the Wii-mote in to hit the ball, not that I actually had to aim but the fact that I was continuously swinging my arm and had not hit anyone within the first 20 minutes was surprising.

Maybe I shouldn't have thought that last thought, maybe I jinxed myself. I was so into the game that I hadn't noticed how I was moving around the room. On a particularly long rally ( I was impressed with myself that I even knew what the term meant), I was only focused on the screen, I was oblivious to Emmett standing so close to me. I was determined to win at least one of the games. During this phase of obliviousness, my hand swung back and hit something, it shocked me at first but I managed to keep my focus on the game. And then the rally ended, I didn't think it was that good of a hit that Emmett missed so easily. So I turned to look beside me to tease him about it, but when I went to look up to meet his eyes he wasn't there. Then in my peripherals, I saw him curled up in a ball on the floor trying not curse. At that point I couldn't help but burst out into my own fit of laughter, the 'something' that I had hit was Emmett, and I didn't hit him in the most pleasant area either.

After my fit of giggles subsided I went to sit on the floor to apologize to Emmett, "Oh Emmett, I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you, I was so into the game. And I'm a natural klutz, I attract bad luck to anyone around me."

Emmett groaned in agony. "Are you okay Emmett?" I asked him.

"You better run," he said, " Angry grizzly bears are going to look tame next to me." I froze in place, despite his warning. I was shocked that he would threaten me like this, he really was way too bear like, in the teddy bear type fashion.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha," Alice burst into laughter again, "Bella you should see your face right now! It's priceless!" I glared at her, and then all of a sudden Emmett had grabbed both of my wrists with one of his giant hands and started tickling me. Out of everything I was expecting, I was not expecting a tickle treatment. I was laughing so hard I was crying, and with the tears that really got Emmett and Alice laughing again too.

Eventually Emmett had to stop tickling me because he was laughing way too hard. That was when I glanced at the clock.

"Oh crap," I yelled, "I have to be at work in half an hour. Wow, I time really does fly when you're having fun!"

"Oh, can't you just call in sick?" Alice asked disappointed that I couldn't stay.

"I could, I however, have to pay my own way to college."

"Okay, well I'll call you later! Bye Bella," Alice said while getting me up to giver me a hug.

"Hey don't leave me out of the love!" Emmett declared as he wrapped his arms around both me and Alice, "It was great meeting you Bella, I can't wait to hang out with you, you're loads of fun."

"Thanks Emmett," I smiled and felt my cheeks fill with blood, and that got Emmett laughing all over again. With that I left the miniature castle to head to work.

**A/N: Sorry if this wasn't as great as you were expecting it to be. I enjoyed writing it, but I am quite sleepy at the moment so it may have been lacking. I'm really excited to write the next chapter! It's one of the only chapters, other than the first 2 that I've had planned out. But the next chapter will probably be my favorite so far, it's already developed into more than I thought it would be. I'll hopefully have it up tomorrow, but if I don't it will be up early Monday. Hope you all enjoyed!**

**Amanda XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I intend on having way too much fun with this chapter and the next few :D hope you like!**

The drive to the Newton's hiking store was lonely compared to the last 24 hours. The past day, despite the intense shopping and makeover, was one of the best days I've had in a long time. And the streak was about to end, I was almost positive. Now I was going to have to survive the wrath of Mike. Mike was a good friend, but I didn't see him the way he sees me at all. He was still extremely stubborn and would not stop trying to get me to go on at least one date with him. He reminded me of a golden retriever, loyal and always there to try to help, which got rather annoying. Mike's perseverance to my cause as astonishing, why would anyone try so hard for someone who clearly doesn't want them back?

I pulled into the front of the store, collected my thoughts and walked into the store.

"Hiya Bella," Mike greeted as I came in.

"Hey Mike," I replied, "Sorry I'm a few minutes late, I lost track of time at a friends place."

"No problem Bella, I knew you'd show up eventually," he teased. The way he said it made it sound like he thought I was showing up to see him.

I sighted and pulled on my vest, "Sorry about you and Jessica... again."

Mike couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, "So you heard already eh? Oh well, Jess isn't the one I'm interested in."

I felt a little creeped out that he was flirting with me so much at work these days, Mike will be Mike I suppose. "Yeah she wanted to meet up yesterday to tell me, she broke up with me too, but you know, in the friendship sort of way." I didn't want to give Mike the wrong impression so he could have freaky fantasies.

"That's too bad, did she blame you again?"

"Of course," I realized then that I liked Mike more than I cared to admit, although it was really just as a friend. He was like the boy next door, and I told him most things. It helped to be brutally honest with him, but not that much. He still pretended to be oblivious to the fact that I didn't want to date him.

The next couple of hours went by quite smoothly, Mike didn't attempt to flirt too much, but then we actually had a fairly consistent customer flow throughout the day. I had just finished taking the payment for a pair of boots when _he_ walked in. I couldn't believe my luck! I had never seen this god of a man until yesterday, and here he was in my place of employment. He was even more gorgeous than I remembered.

I'm not sure why I did it, but I got out from behind the cashier register to go and help him hoping I wouldn't stumble on my words or my feet too much. "Hello, can I help you find anything?" I asked.

He looked in my direction and smiled his heart melting crooked smile that I had discovered yesterday, "Yes, that would be lovely, thanks. I need a tent big enough for 4 people and 4 sleeping bags."

"Sure, no problem," I responded leading him towards the tent.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" the man asked, "You seem familiar."

"Umm," I blushed and tried to look away, his eyes were just as mesmerizing as Emmett's, "I believe I'm the one who ran into you yesterday at Starbucks."

"Oh right, I remember now." Of course, I should have known he wouldn't remember someone like me, even if I did destroy his shirt with coffee. I wasn't even sure if I had spilled coffee on him, I was too transfixed with his face.

"Yes, I'm very sorry about that, as you can tell I'm still extremely embarrassed about that."

"It's okay, it wasn't all that bad."

"So what price range were you looking for for the tent? The more expensive the tent is usually means that the material is thicker so it's more water resistant. Highly recommended for camping anywhere in Washington." I was so glad I was able to stay relatively calm, despite the constant heat on my face.

"Well, then, in that case get me the most expensive one you've got." Great, amazing looks _and _money. I grabbed the tent he wanted and went to drop it off by the cash register along the way to the sleeping bags.

"Planning a camping trip soon?" I asked. I realized how stupid of a question that was because it was clear that was what he was doing. I rolled my eyes at myself.

"Yes, normally my family would have enough room with the 2 tents we already have, but my sister invited another friend."

"Ah I see, so you need a 4 person tent for 2 people?" I teased.

He grinned, "My sister really likes her space, she tends to bring more clothes than what is necessary."

"Gotcha," I replied it made me think of Alice, "What do you need 4 sleeping bags for then?"

"Oh well some of ours are getting old and worn, I decided it was time for some new ones."

"Good plan, were you wanting the most expensive ones again?" I smiled, I couldn't believe how happy I was just talking to this stranger, it was very enjoyable.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he winked.

From the corner of my eye I could see Mike watching us, it was funny how jealous he looked for absolutely no reason at all.

"Anything else for you?" I asked.

"Nope, I think that's all for today."

"Alright, I'll just ring your stuff through then."

That's when it happened, the man was just in front of me and somehow I managed to once again, trip over my own feet. I went flying, face first, into the mans back before falling to the floor.

"Are you okay?" The angelic man asked. He reached out a hand to help me up.

I nodded and accepted his hand. When I was standing once again, I couldn't take my eyes off of his. They were so beautiful, an emerald color that was simply enchanting. When I managed to snap out of my trance, I noticed that he was still holding my hand. I blushed and gently but regrettably pulled my hand out of his.

"Thank you," I said and started the dangerous journey to the cash register once again.

"It was my pleasure," he replied extremely composed.

Mike was behind the cash register now, glaring at the man as I rang in the items he wanted to purchase.

"Okay, and your total comes to 577. 86." He smiled at me as he passed me his credit card, I flipped it over to check the signature and handed him the receipt to sign. His hand writing was as beautiful as he was, was there anything this man wasn't perfect at? I handed him back his credit card. _E Cullen_ I read as I looked at his signature on the receipt. Damn, why didn't I think to check for his first name on his credit card?

I then remembered that he was still there, standing right in front of me. I smiled, "Thank you, if you have any problems with your purchases don't hesitate to bring them back."

He nodded, "Thank you so much for all of your help, I'm sure that I will be back soon." He then turned to walk out of the store glancing back once and smiling.

"What a nice man," I sighed, I couldn't waste this amazing opportunity to torment Mike.

"Yes, quite," he snarled.

"Only an hour left until close. Tonight really flew by didn't it?" Time really didn't seem to exist today, maybe it was because I was in such a good mood. I never expected that I'd ever get to see the Greek God again, I must have done something right recently.

"So Bella, what are you doing Saturday night?" Mike asked me.

"Nothing Mike, why what's up? Did you need me to cover a shift?"

"No no, nothing like that. I was wondering if you would like to go for dinner and a movie with me."

"Mike, for the last time..." I fumed, but he cut me off.

"Pllllease Bella?" he asked looking at me with his puppy dog face. Stupid golden retriever, "Just one date that's all I ask, and then I won't be so persistent any more if you really don't want to date me."

"Okay, fine," I grumbled. Then gaped. What did I just agree too? I decided it blame it on my extremely cheery mood, which wasn't so cheery anymore. Then I walked away to go stock some of the shelves.

I was very happy to get to walk out of those doors that night. The last hour seemed longer than the last week due to the awkwardness between Mike and I. I drove away from the foul place that was the Newton's store relieved to be going home.

When I walked into the my apartment, the phone was ringing. I hurried to get to it. "Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's me Alice!"

"Oh hey, how was your night?"

"Quite wonderful," she giggled. I wondered what could have made her so happy.

"What's with the giggles?"

"Oh nothing, so I was wondering if you wanted to come camping with me and my family this weekend. We always go the last weekend before school starts."

"Well I'm supposed to be going on a date with Mike."

"What about Ee--. Never mind," she stopped herself and started giggling again. I quickly explained the situation and that I was very uninterested in Mike and was trying to get him off my back. "Well then bring Mike with you. I got a call from the cashier at the Blockbuster. His name is Jasper, he's going to come camping too. He's also going to bring his twin sister Rosalie."

"Awesome! Sounds like a party," I said, "But I'm going to head to bed now Alice, thanks for the invite, I'll call Mike tomorrow to see if he wants to come."

"Yay!" Alice cheered, "We leave tomorrow night around 7:00, see you then!"

I hung up the phone after saying good bye and went to throw on my pj's. As I was getting into my bed and drifting asleep, I wondered if I'd get to meet Edward on this camping trip.

**A/N: So it really didn't take as long as I thought it would to write this chapter, it really just flowed out of me. Now I have to think up something mischievous for the trip. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry it's taking me longer to get this chapter up, but life happens, and then I get tired and need to sleep. This will be my last chapter for a few days, while I read _The Dragon Heir_ by Cinda Williams Chima, which is just being released. It is my favorite series of all time, which is saying something because I am completely obsessed with both Twilight and Harry Potter. I would recommended them to any fantasy lovers. The first book is called _The Warrior Heir_ and the second is called _The Wizard Heir_. Anyways, now for Chapter 7 :D**

I awoke the next morning at 8:00 to my alarm clock. _Stupid opening shift_ I thought. I rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. While I was showering, I thanked the gods that Mike never worked Fridays, I'd definitely be seeing more than enough of him this weekend if he came camping. When I was finished readying myself for the day, I knew I couldn't put off inviting Mike any longer. I'd rather get the 'date' over with now even if it was a whole weekend then have to deal with the suspense until the weekend after.

I picked up the phone and dialed Mike's number.

"Hello?" he asked groggily.

"Hey Mike it's Bella, did I wake you up?" my voice sounded full of guilt and concert but I'd rejoice later if I had woken him up.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Oh, sorry about that, I can call back later if you want."

"No no!" he panted into the phone, "I'd gladly take a call from you any time of day." There was an awkward pause, "So what did you need Bella?"

"Oh right... ummm, well my friend Alice's family is going camping this weekend and she invited me."

"But Bella," Mike practically yelled, "What about our _date_?" He emphasized the repulsive word.

"Well if you would have let me finish Newton," I snarled his name, "You would have heard me ask you if you wanted to come, but now I feel like you're getting a little cocky. And that annoys me."

"I'm so sorry Bella! Please forgive me," he begged, just like the golden retriever that he was.

"Fine, it's okay," I gave in reluctantly, I would have loved to torment him even more but I still had to pack my stuff for the weekend. "So are you going to come or not? If you are we leave tonight at 7:00."

"Yeah definitely Bella! I'll be there. I'll call Katie and get her to take my shifts this weekend, she was looking for some extra hours."

"Okay, well meet me at my ho use at 7:00 tonight, I got to go now. Have a nice day, good bye."

"Bye Bella!"

After I hung up the phone I went and packed my bag with a lot of sweaters and sweats. That's about all I really needed for a camping trip in Washington. I decided that hygiene is good too and threw in my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, some freesia body mist, and my hairbrush. That's when I looked at the clock and cursed under my breath. I had lost track of time _again_, and now had 20 minutes to eat and get to work.

I inhaled a bowl of _French Toast Crunch_ and ran out the door as quickly as possible. When I was running out of the apartment building doors I ran into a man, of course my reflexes were lacking again, and I quickly apologized. I noticed that he was delivering flowers. _Lucky girl,_ I thought. I hopped into my truck as raced to work as fast as my truck and traffic would let me. I made it with thirty seconds to spare.

Work went by relatively quickly, it was steady once again, as families were stocking up on all their camping and hiking needs for the last free weekend before school started again. School. Yay. I had decided post-secondary may not be as bad as high school, but until I was proven wrong I would be dreading it.

When my shift was over I hurried home wanting to have a decent meal before the drive out to where ever we were camping. I hoped it wasn't too far away, I didn't want to have to sit in a car with Mike for longer than an hour. As I was walking up to the doors of my apartment building I saw the flowers that the delivery man had had sitting in a very beautiful crystal vase that was shaped like a swan at the foot of the stair case.

I was half way up the first set of stairs when I had a horrific epiphany. A _swan. I. Am. Isabella... Swan._ I groaned and went back down the stairs to see if there was a card, while praying that it wasn't actually for me, and I was just over analyzing the situation like I usually did. There was a card, I didn't read it, just scanned it to see if my name was in it at all. Sure enough it was there, right at the bottom, right before the XOXOXO. Unfortunately while skimming I picked of a few of the words like _my Swan _and _most gorgeous human. _I cringed, I didn' t need to look to see who it was from. I knew, and was officially freaked out.

I took a few deep breaths and started to walk up the stairs, I noticed something at the top of the second flight. It looked like someone had dropped a box of chocolates or something. I continued walking towards the top trying to ignore the chocolates, and I would have succeeded if they weren't swan shaped chocolates. "This is absolutely ridiculous!" I yelled in the stairwell. I picked up the chocolates not wanting to have to wait to throw them at Mike, and started up the third and last flight of stairs.

When I got to the top I was surprised to see a small box that would most likely contain jewelery. I didn't want to look at what was in the box, but I felt compelled to. Sure enough it was a necklace with a swan on the chain. It was beautiful, I couldn't deny that, and I was momentarily awed. Then it hit me. Mike really must really think he cares about me, but I was still pretty sure that it was just a crush. I stood there and wondered how long he had been planning to do this for me. I decided that it didn't matter and that it was just plain creepy. I then started laughing to myself. Maybe I should get things that are shaped like a golden retriever for Mike.

I took my key out of my pocket and opened my door. Instantly the aroma of chicken being roasted in what smelled like a red wine demi-glace hit me. "What the..." I whispered to my self. I pushed off my shoes and went towards the kitchen area. I plopped my gifts down on the sofa along the way and then glared at Mike. I wondered how long it was going to take him to realize that I was home and looking at him disapprovingly.

A couple of minutes went by and he finally turned around and saw me. He smiled at me and started to cross the small kitchen with his arms out waiting for a hug, he kept advancing despite the glare I was giving him. He really was completely oblivious.

Since he wasn't putting the puzzle pieces together quickly enough for me I yelled, "How the hell did you get into my apartment Newton? And how did you even get into the stairs no one was here to buzz you in?!"

He was still smiling, I couldn't believe it. "Well Conner lives the first floor, I asked him if he could buzz me in. And he's good at picking locks, he is a lock smith after all." He winked.

I was so furious, but I was also a hopeless romantic and I did _really _like the necklace. I sighed not being able to hold a grudge as usual.

"I made you your favorite chicken," Mike said trying to be as charming as possible, "I thought you'd be hungry and wouldn't want to rush to eat before we met up with Alice."

"Thanks Mike," I smiled, which surprised me. Mike was a sweetie really, just a little too clingy for my liking. "I really appreciate it. But next time please don't break into my house.

He nodded and pulled out a chair for me. I blushed. We ate in silence, although it wasn't as awkward as I thought it should have been. At about 6:45 there was a knock at the door. I got up to get it. It was Alice of course, and she looked very eager to leave.

"Hey Alice come on in. Mike just made me some dinner, there's a little bit left over if you want some," I offered, I didn't want to be rude.

"I'm good Bella, thanks for the offer though. I just ate before I left. Anyways, I decided that I should pick you up because your truck is probably horrible on the gas mileage front. Jasper is out in the car waiting. His sister Rosalie, Emmett and Edward took the Jeep."

"Well I want to quickly clean up these dishes before I leave for the whole weekend, it should only take about ten minutes for Mike and I to meet you out there."

"Okay," Alice frowned, clearly frustrated that we couldn't leave right away, "I'll grab your bags and take them out."

"Sounds like a plan, my bags are in my room. I'm not sure where Mike's are though."

"They're by the couch," Mike said directly behind me. It startled me, I wondered how long he had been there, that close to me without me realizing this. I remembered Alice's frown, she wouldn't frown because of my choice in men right? I mean it's not like an angel would pick me right? And she doesn't even know my mystery man. I shrugged off the thought and turned to look at Mike. I realized that I hadn't thanked him for the flowers or anything yet. I like the gifts, but I didn't all at the same time, but I didn't want to hurt the poor boys feelings.

When Alice had left I said, "Mike I appreciate the gifts, but they were extremely unnecessary and I cannot accept them. You know how I feel about receiving gifts on my birthday even, why would you even do this? You know me better than that."

"I know Bells, but I just wanted to make you happy really. That is all I want to do right now."

I blushed and subconsciously stretched onto the tops of my toes and kissed Mike on the cheek. Then I thought about what I had just did and realized that I may regret it later. But for some reason I was reveling in the moment, and enjoying it more than I should. Mike smiled the biggest smile I think anyone had ever smiled and gave me a very warm and comforting hug and kissed the top of my head.

"We should get the dishes washed up," I said moving away from him. I looked up into his eyes, they were charming in their own puppy-dog-like way, and couldn't help but to smile. We quickly washed the dishes leaving them on a rack to air dry, and then headed out to meet Alice and Jasper.

As we were going down the stairs Mike gently took my hand. I considered pulling it away, but decided against it. _I'll give it the weekend and see how this works out_ I thought. I was actually more happy than I ever imagined I could be going on a 'date' with Mike.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs I realized that I didn't know what kind of car Alice drove, and then I heard a honk and turned my head towards the direction of the sound. I saw Mike's jaw drop as he stared at what he told me was a yellow Porsche 911 Turbo.

**Runs away from Mike haters AAAAHHH!! Okay okay, so I wasn't actually expecting to make Bella and Mike as involved as they are right now. But please keep reading even if you do hate Mike. I know this chapter was super cheesy with the swan shaped gifts. It just kinda happened and I thought it fit Mike's character well hahaha. Well I hope you all enjoyed my torture of delaying the camping trip scene mwahahaha! :p I have a few plans for that one now. Chapter 8 should be up in a couple of days.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks to Abbey W for the anonymous review, I really appreciated it, it made my day! Well without further adue here is Chapter 8! I'm really enjoying writing this now. It is rather amusing reading all your comments about how Bella doesn't know who Edward is yet. I also apologize that this chapter is relatively shorter than all the other ones, buuuuuut nothing else really fit into it so suck it up :p**

When I was getting into Alice's Porsche, I understood why she bashed my truck. Even I could tell how amazing this car was, and I knew absolutely _nothing_ about cars except for maybe the brand name.

"I _love_ your car Alice," Mike complimented, "I'm so jealous."

"Why thanks Mike, I'd be jealous too," Alice said matter-of-factly. Alice introduced Jasper to us, and vice versa. "So Mike, how long have you and Bella been a couple?"

I glared at Alice and knew she could see me through her rear view mirror, she knew perfectly well than Mike and I and just started 'dating'. She silently laughed.

"Since yesterday," Mike answered beaming.

"This seems to be the weekend where couples begin," Jasper added.

"What do you mean?" I asked a little confused.

"Well, there's you and Mike obviously, and Alice and me," he explained, "And it looks like Emmett and Rosalie were getting along really well, it's almost a creepy. Maybe it's something in the water."

"If it is, I'm not complaining!" sighed Mike.

Alice and Jasper laughed and I just sat there and became a victim of Mike's arm wrapping around my shoulders. I was surprisingly tired even though it was still early. I remembered what I had thought before, about not wanting to spend an hour in a car with Mike, I discovered that I really didn't care anymore because maybe Mike wasn't that bad? Who knows, I also didn't care because if it was longer than an hour I'd probably fall asleep anyways.

"How long is the drive to where ever we're camping?" I asked Alice.

"Um it's about a 4 hour drive," Alice replied, "If you go speed limit." And then she stepped on the gas and we went from 50-120 in about 7 seconds.

"Holy crap Alice!" I squealed, "You really don't have to drive this fast."

"Well, maybe I want to, I love driving fast. Hence the Porsche. Besides the other 3 have probably been there for an hour already, they left late this afternoon. They wanted to get a head start on setting up the tents."

"Okay, so since you are clearly going to insist on going twice the speed limit, how long approximately do you think it will take to get there?"

Mike laughed at me concern.

"Probably just over an hour," she answered.

"Okay, well I'm going to have a nap then so that I can be awake to meet Rosalie and the infamous Edward." Alice smiled mischievously when I said this, I couldn't figure out why she did this whenever Edward was brought up. I decided it didn't matter, she couldn't plan that effected me that much with her brother I never knew. I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.

I heard Mike sigh and he felt him shift his weight. He was much closer to me now I realized. He then pulled me in towards him so that I could sleep on his shoulder/chest. Usually I would have pulled away, but it was much comfier than sleeping sitting up. Mike had his arm around my shoulders again and he soothingly rubbed my arm that was furthest away from him.

"Awww," I heard Alice and Jasper tease together.

I woke up a little after an hour to Mike attempting to lift me out of the car. When I realized what he was trying to do I giggled. He looked at me with a confused expression. "Put me down, I'm awake now." He lowered me back onto the seat. I started to get out of the car, and, of course, I hit my head on the door frame. Two times in two days, I must admit I was rather impressed with my clumsiness, it was very consistent.

"Are you okay?" Mike tried to ask me seriously, but I could see him desperately trying to hold back a laugh.

"Yes I'll be fine."

"You looked adorable while you were sleeping," Mike complemented. I, of course blushed, and tried to hide it by turning my head so that my hair would cover my cheeks. Because I wasn't really paying attention to where Mike was I was shocked when a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind. Then I felt him press his lips to my head where I had bumped it. "Better?" He asked.

"Not really, thanks for trying though," I teased. I started to walk towards where I saw tents set up. Alice and Jasper were talking animatedly and I went to join them. I noticed that one of the tents that was set up was the same one that I had sold to the mysterious _E _Cullen, I blushed at the thought of him. Along the way, I felt Mike, who was trailing a step behind me, desperately grabbed my hand to hold it. _Smooth_ I thought sarcastically, he was still as clingy as I had originally thought. This weekend may be difficult to get through.

"Hey Alice, Jasper," I nodded, "What's the plan now?"

"Well, the other three left us a note in our tent saying they went to the beach for a swim," Jasper explained, "They just left a little while ago."

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Mike asked enthusiastically, "Lets go join them! I've been dying to swim all summer." We all agreed that a swim would be refreshing after the car ride, so we grabbed our swim suits and a towel and headed off towards the beach.

On the walk there Mike held my hand again, I was a little worried that it may never belong to me again. When we were almost there, I saw the Jeep that Emmett, Rosalie, and the mystery brother Edward had driven in. I was really looking forward to meeting him, I was interested to find out if he was as attractive and fun as his siblings or not.

We were getting closer now, I caught a giant mischievous smile dancing on Alice's face. Jasper looked rather amused himself, I wondered if he knew what Alice as smirking about. Then I saw _him_.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well everyone, Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I just have no clue how to go on with this story anymore. So, unfortunately, this is the end!**

**Hahaha, yeah I know, bad joke. Sorry. Of course I'm still writing! The story is just getting started! Now I can put my plans into action!**

I stood there, rooted to the spot with my mouth wide open. I heard Alice laughing. I wanted to run in the other direction, but I was so surprised I could barely move. I felt Mike's fingers tighten around mine and that's when I started to hyperventilate. I could see Emmett and a girl that looked very similar to Jasper and then the man that I had seen the last couple of days. They were swimming, even drenched, the angelic man's hair was still tousled and and messy, but just as gorgeous.

I now came to terms with what was going on. Alice knew, somehow she figured out it was her brother Edward that I was describing. Once this thought clicked into place I was furious at her for not telling me. I started to hyperventilate even more and felt Mike tighten his grip even more. Then I started to see black dots, and before I knew it I was on the ground and the world went black.

**A/N: So, no joke, I actually considered cutting the chapter off here and making you wait another day for the next part. I however, am a nice person and couldn't put my readers through that much stress. Next time I may not be so nice though :p**

When I woke up I was lying in sand, I could feel the shallow tide on my feet and legs. It was very refreshing. My head was elevated and I realized that it was resting in someone's lap. I slowly sat up and turned around. It was Mike. Of course.

"Are you okay?" He asked, he looked extremely concerned.

"Yeah, I-I-I'm g-great," I stuttered and blushed when I realized this was actually partially true.

"Good," Mike replied, "I was so worried about you. You were out for almost two hours."

"Wow. Where is everyone else?"

"They're still swimming. Apparently they're all really good swimmers, they're almost all the way out to the middle of the lake."

"Oh, well thanks for staying with me Mike, I really appreciate it."

"No problem Bella, just as long as you're okay."

"I told you Mike, I'm great." I somehow managed to pull what I thought was a convincing smile on my face.

It must not have been that unbelievable because Mike smiled and pulled me towards him gently and wrapped his arms around my torso and gave me a very comforting hug. It was so comforting that I even wrapped my arms around him as well. He was holding me so tight that I couldn't move, but not so tight that I couldn't breathe. I was positioned so that my head fit into the spot between his shoulder and neck. He seemed to have this hugging thing down pat. We sat there in our embrace for a while, I'm not sure how long, but it was oddly satisfying. I still wasn't sure how I felt about Mike though, I'd just known him too long as a friend, it would mean a very awkward change.

I was however, extremely thankful that he was there for me. I pulled back a little bit and whispered in his ear, "Thanks Mike," and kissed him lightly on the cheek. I went to put my head back to where it was resting before, but Mike stopped me.

He softly pulled me about half an arms length away from him and gently held my arms by my side. He looked into my eyes, I wanted to look away, but I also didn't want to be rude so I held his gaze. We looked into each others eyes for what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes. I could feel the heat rising in my face. Mike seemed to take this as a sign.

Mike traced one of his hands that was holding me from my arm to my face, his hand never leaving my body. He rubbed my cheek with his thumb while the rest of his hand cupped my chin, he smiled at my redness. Which only increased from there. I slightly curved my lips upward in an embarrassed smile.

That's when it happened.

He slowly pulled me back towards him with my chin still cupped in his hand. Still looking into my eyes, he smoothly moved his hand from my chin to the side of my face. His other hand copied what it's opposite had done previously and traced my body from my arm to my face. Then his face started to come closer to mine.

Mike's lips tenderly met mine. I could feel the passion in his lips and was almost positive mine did not hold the same amount. I decided that I might as well find out how I really feel about this boy and let myself dissolve into the kiss.

My arms were no longer wrapped around his torso, I had moved them so that my fingers were entangled in his scraggly hair. Mike must have felt more passion in the kiss now and started to kiss me a little harder. I was surprised at how much I was actually enjoying this. In response I moved one hand from his hair to rest lovingly on his neck and deepened the kiss myself.

Well. That really got Mike going. And if I had thought there was a lot of passion in his kiss when it started, it was nothing to what he was giving out now. I felt one of his hands glide and knot itself into the entanglement that is my hair and the other moved to wrap around my back pulling me closer. I gasped and the new contact. Mike started to lean in towards me as well and then I felt him lowering me backwards. Before I knew it, I was lying in the sand and felt the tide just barely hitting the top of my head. Mike supported himself above me with his elbows, and broke the kiss which left us both gasping for air and stared into my eyes. Then he started to kiss me again but his mouth left mine quickly and started to delicately kiss my neck and jaw line. I felt him nibble my ear lobe and I gasped a little louder than intended, then he came back to my mouth.

"Eh hem," I heard a throat clear from beside us.

**A/N: And yes, this is really how I'm ending the chapter :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Awwww poor Mike, why does everyone hate him so much? Really what has he done to you?I mean Mike for me has always been about the comic relief due to his extreme clinginess. But seriously guys, if you actually think this is going to last longer than the camping trip... I'm just not about immediate pleasure, I believe in having to go through some conflict to get what you want. Since there aren't evil nomadic vampires out to get Bella in this I needed some other form of conflict. So please bear with me, it won't last long.**

The voice being cleared immediately snapped me back into the real world. I pushed Mike away and shook my head to clear it. I just kissed Mike Newton.

Ew.

Utterly unbelievable.

I looked up and saw Emmett with his arm around who I was supposing to be Rosalie. "I guess you're feeling better," I shrugged my answer, I was actually a little disgusted with myself for giving in to the foul Newton so quickly. "This is Rosalie, Rosalie this is Bella and that's Mike."

"Nice to meet you Bella and Mike," Rosalie said.

I got up and dusted the sand off of me. "So what's the plan now?"

"Well, we were thinking of going to make some hamburgers over the fire," Emmett explained, "You guys interested."

"Not really," Mike replied looking at me with lust in his eyes.

"Definitely," I answered not looking towards Mike, this was starting to get way to creepy, "I'm starving." Emmett nodded and started to walk towards the Jeep where I noticed Alice, Jasper and Edward were standing. I started to follow when Mikes hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me towards him once again.

He went in for another kiss but I smartly pulled away. I had already had more than enough of kissing a golden retriever for a lifetime.

"What's wrong Bella," Mike asked.

"This isn't right, I honestly can't do this Mike," I explained, "I tried I really did and I said told you I would, but this just doesn't feel right to me. I'm sorry, but we'll just have to keep our relationship status at friends." I carefully freed myself of Mike prying fingers and started to walk towards the Jeep, I kinda felt bad for leading Mike on with that kiss but I think I needed to do it so that I could realize myself that he was not made for me.

Mike must have been shocked stiff because I heard no footsteps following behind me. I looked back to see if he was okay, maybe he was going to drown himself because of the rejection. Mike was crying, he was sitting in the sand crying. I hesitated, should I go and comfort him or just keep walking. I stood there trying to decide which way to walk and Jasper came up to me.

"What's wrong with Mike," he asked.

"Oh," I blushed, "I kinda rejected him."

"That's not what it looked like earlier," Jasper teased.

"I know, I-I was still trying to figure it out myself. Look I can't go back there to talk to him, would you mind?"

"Not at all, I seem to have a natural ability to make people feel better. I'll work my magic," Jasper smiled.

"Thanks so much Jasper," and so, I continued towards the Jeep.

When I got to where the others were standing Alice looked at me with criticizing eyes, I guess she could see Mike crying in the sand from here, "What's wrong with Mike?"

"It's just not going to work between us, that's all. This will be one heck of an awkward weekend eh?" Edward who was at the other end of the Jeep looking for something in the trunk started to walk around back to the front.

"Is that the infamous Bella I--" he trailed off when he saw me and smiled, "hear?" He finished. Edward must have realized then that it was me with Mike on the beach and then his expression turned into a snarl. "What's wrong with him?" He nodded towards the direction of Mike.

"He got rejected," Alice interjected, "Now enough about Mike, lets get this party started."

We started throwing some wood into a fire bit, I ended up carrying a particularly large log and started to topple over. I felt a pair of hands steadying me. Before I could turn around to see who it was, I smelt a wonderful smell and I realized who it was right away. I had never smelled anything so amazing in my whole existence. I turned around to thank Edward, but he was always 15 feet away. How did he move so quickly and gracefully?

I continued to carry the log and dropped it into the fire pit. Mike was there now, apparently he had recovered from his rejection. He looked up at me with tears still in his eyes. Or not, this was going to be one guilt-ridden weekend.

I started gaze around looking for Alice, I had to escape the guilt trip. Some tapped me on the shoulder then. I spun around, it was Rosalie, thank the heavens! "Hey Rosalie, what's up?" I asked her.

"Not much, I was just wondering if you wanted to go for a walk, Emmett and Edward are coming too. Everyone else is going to stay behind and kindly cook us the hamburgers."

"Sure, sounds good to me." We headed off towards the trees where Emmett and Edward were waiting for us.

"Bella decided to join the adventure," Rosalie chimed.

"Awesome," Emmett said. It didn't appear that Edward had thought it was awesome though, he looked at me with a sour expression.

We started to walk on the path which I realized was the same path we took to get here, before I could ask where we were going we took a different fork than the one to the campsite. I decided it didn't matter, I wouldn't get lost with 3 other people who clearly knew their way around this forest.

Almost immediately into the walk, Emmett and Rosalie were entrapped within their own conversation, it was like Edward and I weren't really there. I guess it was time to talk to him, my angel in disguise.

"So, what do you do for a living?" I asked Edward.

"I play piano at a restaurant called _La Bella Itali, _there's always someone playing the piano there at all times," he answered, he looked pained for some reason. I didn't know why.

"Do you ever get bored of playing that much?"

"No, never. I could play for eternity and not get bored."

"That's nice," I said, "I wish I had something that I could love that much in my life."

Edward looked up at me with a small gleam of triumph in his eyes, and gave me a small crooked smile. I blushed because of this smile of course. We continued our walk making small talk, and before I knew it we were back at were the fire was being made.

**A/N: Okay, so I know this wasn't the best chapter I've written, but it was post-Mike. But Edward and Bella! Yay! Finally! May possibly write another, longer chapter tonight depending on how late I stay out. Thanks for putting up with my Mike chapter everyone!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: So I am definitely apologizing ahead of time. This may be a very angry chapter, and if it is, it is because it is reflecting my mood towards the news that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie is being pushed back to July 17 2009. GRRR!! I am VERY unhappy with Warner Brothers. They say it is because there is no blockbuster movie scheduled for that summer yet and they want to snatch the opportunity. My theory is that they're just afraid that James Bond: Quantum of Solace and Twilight are going to kick their ass at the box office. Anyways, that was my rant, I feel better now. Now to chapter 11! Thanks to everyone who is still reading after chapter 9. I apologize but it was necessary.**

So, the weekend that was supposed to be our last hurrah before we returned to school was looking like it was really going to be a complete train wreck, for me and Mike anyways. While we were eating I continued to attempt small talk with Edward but he didn't really seem too enthused about it, so I stopped trying and went to get more food to occupy my mouth.

When I was done eating, I started to pick up the garbage that had fallen around the area we were eating. I was desperate for anything that could keep my body occupied so that I didn't have to sit awkwardly around the fire attempting to talk to Edward and/or Mike. When I ran out of garbage to pick up I sat back down in my lawn chair with a sigh. Edward looked at me curiously and I pretended not to notice.

I tried talking to Mike to show him that I still cared about him, but only in the friend kind of way. But when I was asking him questions like if he enjoyed the burgers he only shook his head no, nodded, or shrugged. It was very irritating.

I once again got tired of trying and got up to go use the out house that was on the other side of the beach. If I walked really slow, I could make this last at least 20 minutes. 20 awkward free minutes. I smiled at the pleasant thought. My brain seemed to think that due to the pleasantness of the thought that it should motivate my feet to move quicker. When I noticed that I was walking faster than I wanted I tried to slow down. I had to spend a lot of the walk being conscious as to how fast I was walking, which I was okay with as it kept my mind off of other unpleasantries that were waiting for me back at the fire.

When I had managed to grasp a subconscious control on my walking speed, I started to think about how much I despised using out houses and that I was going to have to use them for the rest of the weekend. If it got me away from the awkwardness however, I figured I'd be able to survive the torture that was the smell of other peoples body wastes. I regrettably went into the out house, I regretted it more because it meant that I'd have to go back to the fire soon as it would be impossible to stay in the out house for longer than a few minutes.

When I left the bathroom, I felt someone grab my arm from behind. I squeaked quietly in surprise and spun around to see who it was. It was Mike. Well. I wasn't expecting that.

"What Mike?"

"I can't not be with you Bella, it's been too hard these past years. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you."

I thought about it and realized that it was probably really only puppy love, very fitting for my favorite golden retriever.

"I'm sorry Mike, but I don't feel the same about you, not even close. You're like an extended cousin to me."

He looked me in the eyes with so much pain in his expression that it made me feel like crying. I averted my gaze to the ground so that I wouldn't cry. Then I felt Mike take me and spin me around slam me gently but with force against the wall of the out house. He forced me to look into his eyes once again by holding my face in both his hands.

"Please Bella," he whispered. Before I could answer his lips were pressed forcefully and passionately against mine and his hands were pinning me to the out house. This was no were near as pleasant as our kiss earlier in the day. He was furious at my rejection and this second kiss showed it. I tried to free my arms to push him away but he was stronger than me and I could barely move. It was all I could do to keep breathing through my nose as Mike's mouth was tightly pressed against mine and no air was making it through.

When Mike finally came up for air I managed to get a bit more than I had been getting too, which seemed to give me some extra strength as I managed to free my arms. I tried to push him away from me, but it just caused him to pull me closer to him. When I thought I had enough freedom in my right arm I curled my hand into a fist and punched Mike as hard as I could in the side of the face. He slowly fell to the ground holding his head. I caught him before he completely collapsed onto the ground and I realized that he was unconscious.

When I realized what had happened, I quickly ran off towards the others, and somehow I only managed to trip twice. When I got there, everyone looked at me with startled faces, clearly wondering why I was so out of breath.

"Mike's unconscious by the out house, he needs to go home now. Can someone drive him?"

"Sure, I'll take him," Alice replied looking at me curiously.

"Thank you," I said, glad that she hadn't asked why Mike was unconscious, at least not yet. I could feel the tears starting to fill my eyes so I darted off towards the forest. It was extremely hard not to trip with tears pouring out of my eyes. So after the seventh time I gave up and just stayed on the forest floor and curled up into a ball with my eyes closed trying to not let the tears escape my eyes.

"Are you okay," I heard a voice ask. When I didn't reply I heard a twig snap and then there was a hand gently rubbing my back. "Well, I suppose that you clearly aren't okay. It was a stupid question to ask," the lovely musical voice said trying to lighten the mood. I had a good idea as to who it was now and it made it more difficult to hold in the tears as I knew I could never have the man that I wanted. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked after a few minutes of watching me cry.

The question just made me start to cry harder yet. I felt the arms of my perfect stranger pick me up and put me in his lap where he let me stay curled up in a ball as he hummed me what sounded like a lullaby. It was beautiful, I wondered what it was from. We sat there together for a long time; me crying my eyes out and my angel just holding me close to him. As much of a wreck that I was, I didn't want this moment to end.

Just after I thought that this moment could not get any better, my angel kissed the top of my head.

**A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter! It wasn't as anger filled as I thought it would be. **


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Enough fooling around already! Lets get the party started! :D**

When I woke up the next morning I was confused, I couldn't remember where I was or how I had gotten there. As stared at the top of the tent that I was sleeping in, it started to come back to me. Mike forcing his kiss on me and me knocking him unconscious, running into the forest and falling down a lot, Edward holding me in his arms and letting me cry. Edward! I smiled at the thought of him. I couldn't wait to see him today, it sent shivers down my spine.

I rolled over and to my surprise someone else was lying next to me sleeping. I turned my head and discovered that it was Alice, I could have squished her, she was so small. I groaned as I started to wake up and realize that my back felt cramped up. It must have been from curling up in a protective ball for a portion of the night. I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and felt the tears that were dried to my cheeks. I started to wonder how long I was wrapped in Edwards arms, I didn't remember, I couldn't even remember started to feel tired. That must have been why I didn't know where I was when I woke up, I couldn't remember where I had fallen asleep.

I got up as softly and quietly as I could and started to change my clothes. It seemed like it was a nice day, but it was still a little chilly, so I put on a pair of white ¾ length sweats, a red tank top and a black zip up sweater. I stepped out of the tent and scanned the area for an out house. I noticed that the Jeep was gone, maybe Emmett and Rosalie went for an early morning swim or something along those lines. I shook the thought out my head.

I started to walk towards a clump of trees that I had noticed, it seemed that there was a small building on the other side of them and I thought that it may be the out houses. Sure enough they were. I did my business as quickly as possible and flew out of the out house to escape. That was stupid. I tripped over tree root that I swore was not there on my way to the out house and landed face first in the dirt.

I heard a deep chuckle from the opposite way that I had come and rolled over in the dirt to see who it was. He was a tall and muscular native with long dark hair. I scowled at him as he walked towards me. He extended his arm to help me up.

"That'll teach me to wear white," I mumbled.

"Are you okay?" the stranger asked.

"Oh I'm just great," I snarled, "I woke up ten minutes ago and I've already ruined my clothes for the day and my face is covered in dirt."

The stranger shrugged, "I think you look cute with dirt all over your face."

I of course, blushed at the compliment, "I'm Bella, thanks for helping me up."

"No problem, I'm Jacob," he beamed as he shook my hand.

"Well it was embarrassing meeting you like this, but nice all the same. How old are you anyways? You're like a giant."

He laughed at my comment, "I'm seventeen, but I started school early, so I'm headed off to university in Seattle to study mechanics."

"That sounds like fun, maybe I'll see you around. I'll be there too, but I'm studying literature."

"That sounds absolutely wonderful," Jacob said.

"Well, I should head back. Hopefully I'll see you around!" I waved and started to walk back towards my camp. Jacob seemed like a nice boy if you left out him laughing at me, he could be a good friend when we got back to school.

When I got back I head towards my tent to change into clean clothes. Emmett was awake, and was starting a fire. If Emmett was up and here then were was the Jeep? I could see something moving in the tent next to mine, that was probably Rosalie, and Alice was sleeping next to me. Then it clicked. Edward wasn't here. I wondered when he'd be back. I walked over to Emmett to find out what he knew.

"Good morning Emmett," I yawned.

"Morning Bella," Emmett grinned, "Looks like you already fell in the dirt since you woke up.

"How ever did you figure that out?" I rolled my eyes.

Emmett laughed, "So are you okay after what ever happened last night? No one really knows since you didn't say anything and Mike was unconscious."

"I'll survive," although it did mean that I'd be jobless as I couldn't work with Mike anymore.

"Want to talk about it?"

I shrugged, it would probably feel good getting it out of my system but I didn't want to break down again, "I told Mike it wouldn't work between us and he didn't like that answer so he tried to persuade me using the force of his lips and I punched him."

"That must have been quite the punch," Emmett cheered, "I would have never guessed that you had it in you! I'm proud of you, no one should have to do something they don't want to."

"Thanks Emmett. Where's Edward? I want to thank him for comforting me last night."

"Uh," Emmett stalled, it seemed that he didn't want to answer this question, "He's gone. He left for the weekend. Since it was only the four of us and we can all squeeze into Alice's Porsche he took off. I think he probably has feelings for you and was upset that you and Mike were a thing, I think he was probably the only one who didn't know that you rejected him. I could be wrong though, but Edward doesn't usually have feelings for girls, and he usually doesn't take off without an explanation either. I'm just grasping to put two and two together, I'm probably way off." Emmett quickly said all of this like it would cause me pain

I stood there stunned, he left because he liked me? The one bright part left of this weekend was gone. I could feel my eyes welling up with tears. I fell to my knees and held my hands up to my face to cover tears from Emmett's vision. Why did everything bad always happen to me? Nothing ever worked out. I couldn't contain the tears anymore and they broke away streaming down my face. I started to sob and cry, other people probably thought someone was dying. I couldn't believe that I was crying so hard over a stranger.

I felt two small arms wrap around me from behind. I turned my head and saw that it was Alice.

"I'm so sorry Bella, this is all my fault," she said. I looked at her with a puzzled look, it wasn't her fault.

"I knew by your description that you had run into Edward at Starbucks that day and I wanted to surprise you both." I just looked at her waiting for her to explain the _both_ part of the surprise. "Edward confided in me that he ran into a really beautiful girl, fitting your profile and I wanted to see you guys happy so I was just waiting for the perfect moment to introduce you guys. This is all my fault because I should have told you not to bring Mike. I heard you telling Emmett why Mike was unconscious and I feel so guilty. Emmett is also right, Edward left because he thought you were still with Mike and it hurt him too much to be around you and he took off without waiting for an explanation. This is all my fault, I'm so so so so sorry Bella, please forgive me."

She rushed through that speech so fast that she was out of breath by the end of it.

I shrugged and hugged Alice trying to reassure her, "It's okay, I was pretty sure I'd never have Edward the way I wanted him anyways. He was too good to be true."

We both laughed and embraced each other. "I'll fix this mess if it's the last thing I do Bell. I promise."

We went swimming shortly after that. I felt like a new person with all of the revelations that had appeared out of no where, I was also very relieved that Mike was gone. After swimming we played some beach volley ball. Rosalie was very good, she played on her varsity volleyball team in high school, she was on a team with me and Jasper and they still managed to kick Emmett and Alice's butt.

At the end of the evening we roasted some hotdogs and for dessert we made some smores. We packed up as much as we could that night so that we wouldn't have to do it the next day. While we were packing I was happy that the rest of the weekend had turned out to be thoroughly uneventful and enjoyed it.

We went for one last swim on Sunday morning before we took off. Alice let Emmett drive her Porsche because she was on the phone most of the time yelling at people and trying to persuade her to do her favors. I was trying not eavesdrop so I busied myself with _Wuthering _ _Heights_, which I had brought along just in case. At one point I heard Alice say Edwards name and that he better be there at 7 or she'd hurt him. I wondered what she was up to now and thought of her promise to me. I worried for a minute and then decided that I didn't care because Alice meant well, then I went back to my book and read the rest of the way to Alice's place.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Oh my gosh you guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews and new story alerts and such. It made my day when I got home from work and have 17 emails all for this story in 6 hours :D Made me really want to get this chapter out. Thanks for your support!**

**Amanda**

Alice practically dragged me out of her Porsche and into her house. We made it back in town faster than we made it out _and_ that included driving Jasper and Rosalie home. I went to go grab my bags and Alice shook her head, "Bella it's 5:22, I need to get you ready in an hour Emmett will bring the stuff in."

_Ready for what?_ I was suddenly afraid, although I wasn't sure why. Alice rushed me up the stairs and immediately shoved a towel and a robe into my arms. I took the hint and headed to her bathroom to have a shower. I tried to make it quick but I was nervous so I stayed until the hot water ran out so that I could calm myself. I jumped over the edge and almost slipped but caught myself by grabbing onto the shower curtains. Those in turn, ripped from rod and fell onto the floor.

"Crap," I murmured. I however, still preferred the shower curtains on the ground opposed to me. I dried my hair as much as possible with the towel, bending over the bath tub and then dried my body off and wrapped the robe around me.

When I opened the bathroom door I realized I hadn't actually been to Alice's room yet. I wandered down the hallway peeking into each room to see if Alice was in there. Halfway down the long hallway, I saw a very brightly colored room with posters everywhere. Alice. Definitely. I went in and sat on her bed where she had laid a simple red dress that was very elegant and beautiful.

I felt a pair of small hands spin me around and place me in the chair in front of a body sized mirror. Alice wasted no time and got to work immediately. Before I knew it, Alice was gracefully frolicking around her room grabbing items for my hair and face as she beautified them. When she was done she spun me around in the chair so that I was looking directly in front of the mirror and said the first thing since she had walked into the house, "Ta da!!"

I gasped in surprised. I looked amazing. I wasn't sure if I ever looked this good in my life. Now I was feeling the pressure, what did Alice have up her sleeve this time? I sighed, still amazed at what she had transformed me into and she handed me the red dress and left the room.

I put it on and stared at myself in the mirror once again, awed. The dress went down to my ankles. It hugged my torso but released my shape slightly at the hips so that the material would flow around my legs. The neck was a v-cut and tied around my neck halter style. I was not a vain person but I loved how good I looked right now. I went down stairs to find Alice to thank her, even though I wasn't sure what it was for. I found myself wandering to the game room where Alice was playing a tennis match on the Wii with Emmett.

"Hey," I said to announce my presence.

Emmett turned around and looked at me to respond. Once he saw me his words got stuck in his mouth which left his mouth hanging open and he dropped his wiimote. I felt my face flood with head and blood at his reaction. Finally Emmett recovered and said, "Damn Bella! You look hot!"

Alice cleared her throat.

"I mean you look positively stunning," Emmett corrected himself.

"Thanks Emmett," I said, "So where exactly am I going?" I questioned Alice.

"For dinner with Edward at the restaurant that he works at."

"Oh." I got really nervous and could feel my breathing getting faster.

"It's okay Bella, it'll be fine. I told him you wanted to explain this weekends events to him. He'll listen, he assured me of that much."

"Alright, then lets just get this over with okay?" Alice nodded her reply and started towards the front door. She threw me a pair of black heels and waited for me to place them on my feet. Then we left for _La Bella Italia_, where my Prince Charming was awaiting me.

Alice dropped me off at the formal restaurant approximately five minutes later, I wasn't quite sure how long, as I was focusing excruciatingly hard on not hyperventilating. I managed to succeed in that task and headed through the doors. The middle-aged host greeted me and asked me if there was a reservation. I nodded and told him it was under _Cullen. _A giant smile crept upon his face and he took off to lead me towards the correct table.

The host was moving too fast for me and the heel of my shoe snagged onto a leg of a chair and I went flying. I landed just beside the grand piano which was about seven feet from where I tripped, even I was impressed with the distance.

Extremely abashed I reached my hand up from the ground to the piano bench to push myself up. Instead of the wood that I was expecting to feel however, I felt a human body part; most likely a thigh. I looked up to apologize even more red faced than I was due to my fall. I looked up and was surprised to see that it was none other than the glamorous Edward.

"Sorry,"I murmured. I probably blushed even deeper, but I wasn't sure that it was possible at the moment. I couldn't remember being more embarrassed at any other time in my existence.

"It's alright," Edward chuckled as he helped me up. Then getting serious he whispered in my ear gingerly brushing my hair aside so that it wouldn't be in his face, "You look undoubtedly ravishing tonight."

The soft contact between us sent electricity down my spine and I shivered in response. "Thank you, you look hansom yourself." I rolled my eyes at myself in my head. Of course he looks handsome, when does he not look handsome? He always looked unreasonably exquisite, handsome was an insult.

Edward put one arm around my waist and guided me towards an isolated booth near the back. It was dimly lit with candles, very romantic and soothing. I slid into the booth and started to contemplate on where I should start. Edward slipped into the booth opposite of me and gave me one of his crooked smiles which made me melt and I had to start the decision making all over again. This was going to be a long but glorious night if things went well.

**A/N: So, what did you all think? I apologize for leaving you hanging again. I was going to type out the conversation tonight as well, but I'm too sleepy. If I wake up early enough tomorrow I'll update then.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So I really wanted to post this 3 nights ago, but for some reason my Internet has been down and I have absolutely no clue why. But I'm dying because there's so much stuff that I have to do online. ARG! I'm so angry! **

**Oh and I did use a few quotes from the book for this chapter. But really, how could I not? And I do not own Twilight unfortunately, I can only dream. And this is the longest chapter so far by over a thousand words! Hope you guys like it! At least two chapters will be coming within the next day! Huzzah! XD**

"So," he said meeting my eyes with his, "You seem to be very prone to accidents."

I nodded trying to avert my eyes from his, but not being able to resist his amazing emerald ones. He chuckled silently and pushed some hair out of my face. Why oh why, did he have to do this? It sent shivers through me every time. It's like he knew it was tormenting me inside. Oh well, I probably deserve this punishment after this weekend. I closed my eyes and sighed trying to avert my attention to something else.

We sat there quietly for a few minutes just watching each other to see who would do something first. Luckily neither of us had to as the waiter came and asked us what we wanted to drink. Edward ordered some fancy type of white wine, I was clueless as to what kind he ordered because it was in a different language. The waiter came back momentarily with some bread rolls, the wine in an ice bucket and two wine glasses and said that he would be back shortly to take our order.

Edward silently poured us both a glass of wine, and I could have sworn that his eyes never left mine. Then he handed me mine and said, "Here's to the best, which is yet to come." He winked, and I wondered what this all meant. I was utterly confused. I thought he was upset because he thought I was with Mike? Did he know what I thought about that song that I had heard on that fateful day when I met Alice? It couldn't be, non one knew who SR-71 is, they weren't well known at all. I just gaped at him and he clinked our glasses together and took a sip. I followed suit.

"Mmm," I moaned at the delicious flavor of the wine, "This wine is marvelous."

"Just like you," Edward said quietly and looking a little shy, then he covered his mouth in embarrassment as if he had never meant to say it out loud. It was so cute I couldn't help but smile and giggle a little.

"And just so you know," Edward added in mater-of-fact tone, "Mike is no where near good enough for you, you deserve much better."

"I-I-I," I couldn't not stutter, this perfect stranger had already noticed what I discovered a while ago but ignored the fact anyways. When I cleared my mind enough, I took a deep breath and replied, "I know. This weekend was just a test really. I've never thought that Mike and I could be anything other than friends, and I was proved right." I shook my head, "I don't even think I can be friends with him any more even, not after Friday night."

Edward was staring at me intently, as if I was a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out.

"What?" I asked.

"If you were so sure, why did you bother testing?"

"He begged and he begged, just like the golden retriever that he is."

"So what happened this weekend exactly, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well after the first kiss that I'm sure everyone saw, I told him it didn't feel right to me and that I couldn't do it. He wouldn't accept no for an answer. When I went to the out house, he followed me and attacked me with his lips as soon as I walked out. He wouldn't let me go, he was too strong for me. Then I guess he got lost in the kiss and I managed to free my arm so I punched him," I shrugged like it was a completely harmless thing to do, "I didn't mean to knock him unconscious."

I noticed Edward's face move through many different emotions all at once. First he looked angry because of what Mike did, then he looked satisfied that I was able to make my intentions clear, and lastly he was very happy, probably because Mike got what he deserved.

"So what's your plan now?" Edward asked, "Are you going to go back to the same job with him?

"Well, I'll go in and give in my two weeks, I've been there too long to just quit on the spot," I replied, "It's not fair that Mike's parents should have to completely feel the wrath of Mike's actions."

Edward laughed quietly at this and a serious smile appeared across his face. I looked at him questionably.

"If Mike lays one hand on you, I'll be there as soon as possible to break that hand," he said.

I couldn't believe he had just said this, it was very violent. I had never pictured Edward as a violent being before. "Or you could just threaten him, that could work too. He's a push over." Edward shrugged as if he still liked his plan better and would only consider mine to comfort me.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked him after a few moments of just sitting and listening to the surroundings.

Before he answered, he took one of my left hand and held it between both of his. I felt a chill rush through my body at his touch. He felt me shiver and smiled. "I care so much because for some reason you seem to be perfect for me. I'm not sure how I know this already since I barely know anything about you. But whenever you're around, it's like my instincts are heightened and I feel complete. When you're not around it's unbelievably hard to concentrate, the worst mistake I've ever made was driving away from you this weekend."

He looked pained, I had no clue what to say. I was saved the need to comment because he continued on with his explanation, "I just couldn't stand seeing you the way you were because of that stupid boy. You deserve so much better. He did not respect you at all. I will respect you, and I will love you with every inch of me if it's the last thing I do."

If I didn't know what to say before, I was was completely clueless now. I just stared at him with my mouth hanging open. I knew it was rude but I couldn't seem to find the muscles to close it.

"I'm sorry," Edward apologized softly tracing my hand with his fingers, "I've said way more than what should be said on a first date. But it's all true. I don't love you yet, I just know it won't be hard at all to fall in love with you. You _are_ perfect."

He lifted one of his hands from mine and held my hand in one of his and my face in his other. His touch astonished me, I couldn't think. And then our eyes met again and I could feel the heat in my cheeks for what seemed to be the hundredth time today. I smiled gently, surprised that I could get my brain to function long enough to perform the simple task. I thought that I should probably respond with some sort of speech soon, but I wasn't sure if I could utter two words properly. His touch and his gaze were dazzling me.

I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it again and swallowed. "I feel the same about you," I managed to slur out quickly.

Edward's smile in response was so big that I was afraid that his extremely white teeth would blind everyone in the building. I laughed at his reaction and relaxed my body.

Edward sighed, "You're laugh is_ almost _as beautiful as you are."

If I had it my way, I would have jumped across the table into Edwards arms and kissed him hard. As it happened, that was when the waiter _finally _decided that now was the perfect time to come and ask us what we would be ordering. I of course had no clue because I never went to fancy restaurants like this, I didn't have a reason too.

"Pick something good for me," I requested of Edward. He nodded and ordered a platter of appetizers for us to share. After he had ordered I noticed that we hadn't even touched the bread that was brought to us and we only took that first sip of wine. If I wasn't there to witness it, I wouldn't have believed that it was possible to get so wrapped up to another person that it seemed like the rest of the world wasn't there and didn't matter. It was a fantastic feeling, and I was definitely hoping I would get to experience it more.

Now that the heavy conversation point of the night was resolved we made small talk throughout our dinner, getting to know each other better. When we were done, Edward slid out of his side of the booth and waited at the end of mine with his arm extended towards me and hand opened waiting for mine. I placed my hand into his, in which it fit perfectly, and got up. He guided me towards where I had fallen earlier and pulled out a chair for me to sit in that was in direct line of the piano. Then he went and whispered something in the pianists ear, she nodded.

The pianist finished her song and got up from the piano bench. Edward swiftly took her place and started to play. The song he was playing was unbelievable, I had never heard something so perfect before. It seemed familiar, although I couldn't quite place where I had heard it. While I was listening, it came back to me. It was the song that Edward was humming to me on Friday night when I was curled up in his arms. I could feel my eyes brimming with tears, I didn't try to hold them back. These were happy tears. I smiled and tasted the salt water when it hit my lips. Edward finished playing and smoothly walked back over to me.

I was so caught up in the moment, that I hadn't noticed that everyone in the restaurant was watching us. I blushed yet again, embarrassed that I was the center of attention. That was the number one spot that I avoided at all cost. This time was different however, it was too perfect to be embarrassing. I looked up into Edwards eyes and smiled.

"You shouldn't do this to people you know," I whispered.

"Do what?" he asked slightly confused.

"Dazzle them."

"Do I dazzle you?"

"More than frequently," I admitted.

He smiled, clearly pleased with my answer, "That's _your_ song by the way,"

"What?" Now it was my turn to be confused.

"Your song, no one else's. It just came naturally to me when I was holding you on Friday night. It came so easily that it was like it was there the whole time just waiting for your presence to trigger it's release."

I smiled. How was this man not perfect? He gently pulled me up from my sitting position and brought me closer to him. He brushed his lips gently against my cheek bone and whispered in my ear, "You are perfect to me Bella Swan."

The waterworks really started then. Damn hormones. Why did you have to cry when you were overly happy? It was a bewildering concept. Edward pushed back from me slightly to get a better look at me, "No need to cry sweetheart, this is a happy moment," he laughed and wiped the tears away with his thumbs.

I laughed and nodded, "I-I know," I choked out, "I'm just so so happy. I didn't know it was possible to feel this amount of happiness."

Edward brought me completely in his arms and held me tight. I heard all of the other guests aww around us as we just stood there and held each other like we were bound by the strongest crazy glue possible.

After a minute or two, Edward chuckled and removed himself from me. He dazzled me with his sparkling emerald eyes once more and started us towards the exit with one arm still around my waist.

When we got outside, Edward handed his keys to the valet and he went to go get Edward's car. Edward returned his gaze to me and traced my face with his hands. It was such a soothing feeling, I thought that I could survive for eternity if it was just Edward and I.

A voice cleared in the background and Edward looked up, "Oh, thanks Bert," he said to the young valet.

"No problem Edward," Bert replied, "Have a good night."

Edward went to his car which was a silver Volvo and opened the passenger door for me to get in. He stopped me before I was about to sit down and brushed my cheek softly with his lips once more and helped me into the seat.

"What's your address?" Edward asked me when he started driving. I answered and we continued on questioning each other about small details of our lives. Before I knew it, he pulled up in front of my apartment. I sighed, depressed that my wonderful evening with Edward was at an end.

Edward was instantaneously at my door and opening it for me. Did he always have to be such a gentleman, it made it too hard to concentrate. We walked up the stairs of my apartment in silence, I didn't know what to say anymore tonight. I wasn't sure what to expect to happen when we arrived at the evil threshold that was my apartment door. Edward smiled at the grimace that was on my face, seemingly reading my thoughts.

When we got to my door I regrettably said, "Well, this is it."

Edward nodded and looked like he was in deep contemplation. I turned my back to him to unlock my door. Just as I had my key in the door I felt his hand rub softly against my face and guide it to look into his eyes. _Arg!!_ It's like he knew that he could control my mind if he looked at me like that!

When he was sure that he had my attention, he held my head in both of his hands and slowly leaned in to kiss me. It was a soft but passionate kiss and my lips matched his almost effortlessly. I pulled him closer to me not wanting it to end and he came willingly, deepening the kiss. Much too soon after this he stopped and pulled away.

"I guess it's time for me to leave," Edward assumed (for who knows what reason), slightly out of breath. I pouted at his conclusion.

"You looks o cute when you pout," he teased, "But I should really go. You need to sleep, you look tired."

I _was_ tired. But I wasn't about to admit that, I didn't want to be separated from Edward. "What if you stayed the night?" I blurted before my mind even realized I said it.

Edward grinned, "Okay, sounds like a good plan to me."

I smiled, more than satisfied with this new conclusion to the evening and turned to open the not-so-evil door. I took Edward's hand as I lead him into my apartment. The remains from the sleep over with Alice where still visible in the living room. Then we had to walk through the kitchen and I cringed. On the table, the gifts Mike had given me were still sitting there. I let go of Edward's hand and went to pick them up. I carried them over to the garbage and threw them out.

Edward looked at me like I was insane for throwing the gifts out, but he didn't know what they represented. "Mike." Was all I said in disgust and Edward _Ahhed_ and smiled clearly pleased that I had come to my senses about Mike.

It seemed like it took forever and a day to get my bedroom. "Well, this is my bedroom," I stated, I was suddenly feeling awkward now that I was here. "Eerrr, I think I have a pair of sweats that are enormous on me that should fit you, if you want a change of clothes."

"Sure, that works," Edward agreed.

I went to my closet and grabbed him the pair of sweats that I never wore, as well as my usual pajama sweats and t-shirt. "I'll just go use the bathroom, it will take you a quicker time to change. Be right back," I promised. I changed and brushed my teeth as quickly as I could and headed back towards my bedroom.

When I got there I was stunned. Why didn't I offer him a shirt? I wouldn't be able to tear my eyes off of his perfect body all night. He smiled at me and motioned with his index fingers to come over to him. I walked to him as casually as possible although I was dying to skip towards him like a giddy school girl.

"And I thought you looked good in a dress," Edward said winking.

"Yeah right, I look horrid compared to you right now."

Edward laughed and before I knew it his lips were on mine once again. The taste and smell was amazing, and the feel was phenomenal, I really understood now what Edward was saying about having heightened senses around me. I gasped and entwined my fingers in my hair. Then, still kissing me, he picked me up and put me on the bed. He took his lips from mine, "Time for bed," he whispered.

I sighed and cuddled up close to him. He started to gently trace kissed along my throat, jaw line and face, finishing off with a much too short kiss on my lips. Edward threw one arm over me so that it hung on my bad and started to trace random shapes over it and hum my lullaby. And it was to his wonderful touch and sound that I fell asleep and had the best night of my life.

**A/N: I really loved writing this chapter, it took a while though... but it was fun and it's probably my favorite :D Hope you guys liked it. It was insanely long! And once again, I apologize for the wait, I have no clue why I haven't been able to get onto my internet. **

**Amanda**


	15. Chapter 15

I woke up the next morning and rolled over. No one was laying next to me. I groaned. I knew last night was too good to be true. Well, it was an amazing dream while it lasted. I kept my eyes shut tightly so that I could stay in my dream and continue to pretend that last night was real.

After a few minutes of day dreaming, I felt the weight of my bed shift slightly.

Wow, I must be really dreaming hard if I thought I felt my bed move. I should wake up so I don't get my hopes up for the future.

Just then I felt an arm wrap around me and lips on the back of my neck.

"Wakey wakey," a velvety voice whispered between kisses.

I was bewildered. _It wasn't a dream?_ I shivered at the revelation and smiled.

"Your lips are kissing the wrong spot," I teased. Edward chuckled and pulled me closer to him. I wanted to roll to my other side to look at his perfection but his grip was too tight. I could feel his body heat radiating from his chest due to the lack of a shirt. I held his hand that was hanging over me and started to trace absent minded patterns over it. As much as I wanted to turn around, I was also very content and happy to just lie here with him holding me. It would make the view that much better when I did get to look at him.

As satisfied as I was to be cuddled up with Edward, I was impatient to see his face so I started to try and wiggle free enough to turn around. I could feel Edward laughing silently at my attempts to turn around. I gave up frustrated and irritated that he knew he was driving me crazy by keeping me locked in his arms with my back facing him. I frowned and he chuckled and kissed my jaw. Then he loosened his arms slightly so that I could turn around.

"Thank you," I said as I was turning around. I realized that it sounded like I was desperate, which I was, but I was trying to not convey that to him.

As soon as I was repositioned, I looked directly into his eyes. They glimmered brilliantly in the morning sun, I never wanted to look away. I saw him flash his heart-wrenching crooked smile in my peripheral vision, which in turn made me curl my lips upward with pure happiness. I giggled for absolutely no reason at all. I sounded and felt like a teenager in sex ed class laughing at the words 'penis' and 'vagina'.

I lost track of all time, I could have been staring into Edward's eyes for hours and not even known it. I probably would have too if a beeping in the background didn't disturb my ogling.

"That'd be the bacon finished unthawing in the microwave," Edward answered my unasked question.

I bunched up my eyebrows in annoyance.

"What?" Edward asked puzzled.

"It's just... I was saving that bacon!" I half yelled.

"What was it for?" Edward continued the interrogation very concerned that he had ruined some kind of plan of mine.

I laughed, "Ah ha ha ha, I wasn't really saving it. It's a line from a movie. Can you guess which one?"

"Nope, I give up. Why don't you tell me?"

"Definitely not. You can live in torment until you figure it out on your own."

"Oh well, no kisses for you then," he teased slowly rubbing my cheek with his nose.

What a jerk, and by jerk I really mean the most unbelievable man in existence who was dazzling me to the point where I could barely put two words together that would make sense. "Gah, stop it!" I cried in distress, "You win, I'll tell you I promise, I promise! But you owe me a kiss first."

Edward sighed in defeat, "It's a good thing that not kissing you was killing me too."

I smiled at my victory and wrapped my arms around his neck. I glanced into his eyes one last time before I lost myself at the touch of his lips on mine. I gasped at the contact almost immediately. I couldn't believe how amazing this was. I had forgotten how sweet he really tasted over night, my dreams were not even close to doing it justice. The texture of his lips were smooth against mine, and the shapes of our mouths seemed to fit together fluently. I gripped his face between my hands and deepened the kiss. This caused Edward to moan with pleasure and his hands tangled themselves in my hair.

I went to move on top of Edward to be as close to him as possible. Due to the distraction that was Edward's lips on mine, I moved over too far and fell off the bed.

I just laid there on my back staring up at the ceiling with arousal and embarrassment flushing my face.

Next thing I knew, Edward was next to me on his knees, "Are you alright?" he asked very concerned.

I wasn't sure how to answer that question. I was furious at myself for ruining the perfect moment with an act of clumsiness. I was still however, extremely turned on by the kiss and blushed at the thought of it. And then there was the embarrassment factor. I realized that I was just staring at Edward while I was pondering my answer.

He seemed to notice the inner conflict and saved me from myself. "You're so adorable," he complimented and kissed me on the nose. Edward picked me up and carried me out to the living room and placed me on the couch. "I'm going to go finish cooking breakfast," he called to me as he was walking away.

Edward return about fifteen minutes later with two glasses of milk, a bunch of French toast (along with all necessities for eating), and the bacon.

"Mmm, smells delicious," I complimented, "My favorite for breakfast. How did you know?"

"Thanks, and I didn't. It's my favorite too, so I was just trying to appease myself," Edward stated, "But who in their right mind doesn't like French toast?"

I nodded my agreement and started to eat. It was of course, even more delicious than the smell. Within twenty minutes Edward and I had devoured the six slices he had made.

"That was so good," I complimented.

"Thanks," Edward said beaming.

I looked up at the clock wondering what time it was for the first time all morning, "Holy crap! Is that really the time? Is it really 11:00?"

"Yes, why?"

"I've got to go to work for noon," I quickly picked up all the dishes and carried them to the kitchen. Edward followed me silently. When I started to run the water to wash the dishes, Edward wrapped his arms around my waist from behind.

"Go get ready," he told me, "I'll wash the dishes."

"Thanks Edward," I turned around and gave him a kiss and sighed, "How are you not perfect?" I took off to get ready for work in record time. I headed over to my laptop quickly to write up a letter of resignation to hand in to the Newton's today.

Just as I hit the print button I heard a buzz coming from my intercom.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Edward called from the kitchen.

"No, that's okay, I'm ready to go," I walked quickly to the intercom, "Hello?"

"Hey Bella, it's Alice can I come up for a few minutes?"

"Uh ye-e-ea-h," I buzzed her in. Great, what was she going to think when she found her brother, topless in my apartment.

"Who was it?" Edward asked when I returned to the kitchen.

"Uh, your sister," I said still blushing at my previous thought.

"Ah," Edward replied and pulled me in for a hug. How was it that it always seemed that he knew what to do to make me feel better. It was as if he knew what I was thinking. He kissed the top of my head and released me. "I think she's here."

"How do you know?"

"Can't you hear the annoying constant knocking?"

"Nope, I guess I was blocking all of the sound out that n'trevolved around you." Edward laughed lightly as I went to open the door. "Hey Alice, what brings you here on this fine morning?"

"Well, the movies that we rented are due back today, so I thought that I'd come and pick them up to take them back to the store."

"Oh okay, well I'll go grab them wait here!" I shut the door getting ready to lock it as soon as it closed. Alice was too fast for me though, she put her weight against the door trying to keep it open. I was pushing back trying to completely close the door. How was she so strong? She was so tiny.

"Bella," Alice huffed, "I'm not stupid! I saw his Volvo outside, I know Edward's here." Alice gave and extra burst of energy in her push and I went flying on the floor.

I felt Edward helping me up from the ground, and decided to put some effort into it myself.

"Good morning Alice," Edward said with a smile

"Morning Edward," Alice replied giving us a smirk in return, "I see Bella managed to get you out of your clothes already."

I immediately got defensive, there was nothing wrong with some kissing after a first date was there? "Alice, it's not at all what you think." Edward patted my shoulder trying to comfort me, "We only - -"

"Oh Bella! You should have seen your face, it was priceless! I know you and Edward didn't do anything beyond kissing last night. He's too much of a prude."

I was a little stunned, and I wasn't sure why. "Oh," was all I managed to say. I felt Edward leave my side, why was he leaving me alone in this situation?

"Here's the movies Alice, we were just about to leave. Bella has to be at work in 20 minutes."

"Thanks Edward, see you two later!" Alice was about to leave but stopped and turned around, "Oh yeah, mom wanted me to invite Bella over for dinner tonight, she wants to meet her."

"Sounds great, but I'm not off work until 8," I replied.

"Okay, it'll be a late dinner, no problem. See you then," and then Alice was gone.

"How can someone so tiny be so annoying?" I asked Edward.

"I've been wondering about that same question for my whole life."

"I heard that!" Alice yelled from the hallway.

I looked at Edward with amazement that she had heard that. He shrugged looking just as bewildered as I did.

"Well, I have to go, uh I'll give you my key and you can let yourself out," I reasoned.

"Nonsense, I shall drive you to work. I'll be back in 2 minutes, I'll go get changed." Before the 2 minutes was even up he was back wearing the same black dress pants and cream collared shirt as last night. Wow, now that I was past my dazed stage I could actually notice what he was wearing. He looked amazing. I smiled up at him and he took my hand as we headed toward the door. I locked it and we walked down the stairs in silence.

I could get used to this. Living with Edward. He was definitely too good to be true. I was thinking about what Alice had said, a prude? No. Just respectful. He had values, which is a lot more than most beings of the male species these days. I grinned at my fabulous catch.

"What's with the big smile?" Edward asked as we were getting into his Volvo.

"Just thinking about how unbelievably amazing you are."

He stared into my eyes for a few seconds and pulled my chin closer to him. He kissed me lightly, but passionately, "You're pretty damn unbelievable yourself Bella," he murmured in my ear.

He pulled away and started the car. A few minutes later, I was at work.

I just sat there staring into the windshield gripping my letter.

"You okay Bella?"

"Uh yeah, I don't want to go in there Edward," I spat out quickly.

"You'll be fine Bella, I promise. If Mike tries anything, call me. I'll be there in an instant."

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave you either."

Edward laughed and kissed me again. Well, that helped a little bit. I lied, it helped a lot.

"I'll be here at 8:00 sharp, I promise. Try to have a good day," Edward said lovingly.

I sighed, "Thanks," I opened the car door and I looked back into his eyes one last time before I got out and smiled. Then I headed into the Newton's store.

**A/N: So, who can guess which movie the bacon line was from? If you can guess it correctly you get a cyber cookie! lol... It was really one of the only lines I liked from the whole movie. :D Hope you guys liked, it wasn't a fabulous chapter but it would be the state of awe that I would be in after a date like the one in Chapter 14.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:Sorry for taking so long to update this guys! But life just got really busy. And by that I mean I actually did something every night after working 12 hours a day that wasn't writing. I went to a 3 Doors Down concert which was bloody amazing. If you ever get the chance to see Econoline Crush, Hinder or 3 Doors Down live: DO IT!! You will not be wasting your money. And then The Dragon Heir finally came out (2 weeks late), so I was reading that. And it was one of the best books I've ever read. Anyways enough with the recommendations. Hope you guys like the chapter. It should be longish, and I should have chapter 17 ready for Friday :D Enjoy!**

**Amanda**

I walked into the Newton's store trying to control my emotions. I felt angry and nervous, which was causing me to feel very flustered and unsure about everything. And by everything, I meant what had changed in my life within the last 4 days: dating Mike, knocking Mike unconscious when we weren't dating anymore, a fun day at the beach, and last but definitely not least; my sudden whirlwind romance with Edward Cullen. My heart stopped at the thought of his name while I was walking through the door of the store. It caused me to pause and blush slightly.

"Good afternoon Bella," Mrs. Newton called to me from behind the counter.

"Hey Mrs. Newton," I replied, "How's everything?" I wondered if she knew, if she would understand the awkward double meaning. I did still feel a little guilty about punching the lights out of Mike, even if he had it coming to him.

"Everything is going well so far today," Mrs. Newton smiled, seemingly oblivious to my two-faced sided question.

Now for the awkward part.

"Mrs. Newton, I have to tell you something."

"What is it dear?"

"I'm quitting," I started to hand my letter of resignation to her, "I'll miss it here, but it's time for me to move on."

"Did you get another job?" she asked me.

"No not yet. But I gave you 2 weeks notice, I'm hoping to have a new job by then."

"This is very abrupt Bella, are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am more than 100 percent positive," I replied almost too quickly.

Mrs. Newton _hmmmed_ and examined me quietly. I tried not to blush guiltily under the force of her stare, but of course, I failed miserably.

"I knew it," she said after a few minutes.

"Umm, what did you know exactly?"

"I knew that one day Mike would try to force himself up on you causing you to freak out and run away."

I just stood there and stared at her, completely shocked. Was this an appropriate accusation to make of a mother? It wasn't very fair to Mike, as he wasn't here to defend himself, although she was entirely correct. But it wasn't very polite towards me either. _Freak out and run away?_ Really. I was quite upset at this accusation, "Well, if Mike learned to keep his hands to himself after 4 years of disappointment we wouldn't be in this mess," I mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Mrs. Newton in an outraged voice, "What did you just say Bella?"

Oh crap, did I serious say that out loud? I thought I was just thinking it, "Uh nothing, nothing at all."

"You never even gave him a chance! You just kept refusing him like the bitch that you are!"

I couldn't even move. Well, except for my mouth which was hanging open due to my being completely flabbergasted as to what to say.

"I tried to be nice to you these past 4 years for Mike because he's always liked you so much. But you are totally selfish, immature and oblivious. Not even giving the poor boy a chance, you had to know he was practically in love with you."

I could feel the tears starting to fill in my eyes.

"I always wished that you would end up being a horrible employee so that I could fire you and keep you away from Mike so that he wouldn't get hurt," she continued, "But no! You had to be the perfect employee," Mrs. Newton rolled her eyes at the disappointment and took a breath.

At this point the tears where streaming down my cheeks. I wasn't sure however, as to why they were there in the first place. I guess it was because she had firstly called me a bitch and then continued with the insults from there. She was the one calling me names and I was the immature one, I started to cry harder because of her hypocrisy. I was also probably crying because I knew that I had hurt Mike and I felt bad because of that, he was my friend before all of this, after all. But I had given him plenty of warnings that I wasn't interested in him in a more-than-friends way.

"I'm awfully sorry you feel that way about me Mrs. Newton," I managed to say between sobs, "But I told Mike many times that I wasn't interested. He was too persistent for his own good. This weekend proved that I was right. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and have a great time with him. But I didn't feel the connection with him that way and he didn't understand that. So I'm sorry that I gave your insistent son a concussion trying to make my point clear when he forced himself upon me."

When I was done my rant I headed toward the back were there was a phone, I wanted to call Edward to come and pick me up. When I got to the door I stopped and turned around and said, "You can forget about 2 weeks notice. I won't be coming back after today."

I continued into the back room where Mike and Mr. Newton were sitting and going over _End of Season_ sale prices. They looked up and saw me in tears. Mike looked like he was about to cry with me for some unknown reason, while Mr. Newton looked angry. I quickly looked away from them hoping that they would ignore the fact that I was even in there. I picked up the phone and realized that I didn't know Edward's phone number. What an idiot, I didn't get my own boyfriends phone number. I almost slammed the phone back down in my frustration, but remembered that I had Alice's phone number in phone book. I dove into my purse and brought out my phone book with shaky hands.

I dialed the number, maybe, just maybe I could get lucky just this once and Edward would answer Alice's phone, I didn't want to have to explain anything right now. Edward would be the only one who wouldn't press for questions immediately. My tears started to subside at the thought of hearing Edward's voice.

"Hello?" a male voice answered.

"Uh hi," I stumbled, "Who is this?"

"It's Jasper."

"Oh hi Jasper, it's Bella. Edward isn't around is he?"

"Nope, sorry Bella. He and Alice just went out to grab a few things for dinner they may not be back for an hour or so. I'm just playing Wii with Emmett, Alice forgot her phone on the sofa."

"Can you by chance give me Edward's number? I need to talk to him."

"Sure, hold on I'll ask Emmett," I waited a second and then Jasper was back. I wrote down the number as Jasper echoed back what Emmett told him.

"Thanks so much. Bye."

I hung up the call and fumbled to press the correct numbers to call Edward's cell. Straight to voice mail. Crap. What was I going to do? I had no change for bus and it was too far to walk anywhere. I felt my eyes brimming with liquid again. I dialed Alice's number again.

"Hello?" the same calm voice as before answered.

"Hey Jasper, it's me again. Do you think that you could come and pick me up from work?" this time I heard the hurt in my voice.

"Sure, are you okay Bella?" Jasper asked.

"As soon as I get out of this place I should be."

"Okay, you work at the Newton's store right?"

"Yes."

"I'll be there in ten Bella. Promise."

When I got off of the phone I looked up and realized that it was only Mike sitting there now. Where had his dad gone? As my perceptiveness turned on once again I heard shouting coming from the store. Mike looked at me with a slightly guilty conscious, he knew the tears were because of him. I looked back into his eyes trying to decide if I wanted to say something witty or not.

"Well Mike, I hope your happy... You've got me crying over you," I snapped through my tears and walked out of the door. I glared at Mrs. Newton on my way out and Mr. Newton looked at me sympathetically.

"I told you to stay out of Mike and Bella's relationship. I've told you more than once too! Mike's going to have an even harder time getting over this now," I heard Mr. Newton snap to his wife. Well, at least one of them had a brain.

I left the store and sat on the bench on the side walk. I hunched over and put my head into my hands. I could feel the tears starting to dry on my face, but every once and a while a stray tear would find it's way out of my eyes. Moments later I felt the weight of the bench shift and two giant arms wrap around me.

"Awe, Bella, what happened?" asked the deep booming voice of Emmett.

As big and intimidating as he seemed, the more time I spent with him made me realize that he was really just a big life-sized teddy bear. His strong and comforting touch was enough to relax me and I snuggled in closer, sighed and explained what had happened.

When I was done reciting the horrid story I looked up into Emmett's eyes, I smiled because his eyes reminded me of Edward's. Emmett returned the smile.

"Thanks for listening," was all I said to him.

"No problem Bells! Now let's get this partay started!"

I looked around and saw Rosalie and Jasper standing next to us. Rosalie looked pissed off, and Jasper looked relieved that I would survive.

"Uh what party exactly?"

"The party that we're going to start to get you into a good mood," Emmett replied happily. Emmett flipped open his cell phone and pressed a few buttons and held it up to his ear. "Hey Eddie! How's it going? Great. Well did you want to grab a bunch of junk food and stuff too? Enough for all of us?" he added as an after thought, "We're gonna have a house partay! Sweet, see you in an hour Edward!"

"Wait," I half screamed too late, I desperately wanted to hear Edward's voice. I noticed Rosalie looking at me like I was a pathetic halfling. I will give her the pathetic part, it hadn't even been an hour since Edward and I had parted ways. I sighed at my patheticness and headed towards the jeep that was parked in front of me.

I jumped into the back of the Jeep and Jasper slid in on the other side, "You okay Bella?" he asked cautiously.

I nodded afraid that my voice may betray me. I'd be much much better once Edward was back. Emmett cranked up the radio and sang along to all of the songs. I realized that Emmett wasn't going directly to his place.

"Aren't we going back to your place?" I asked him.

"Nope," he replied popping the _p_, "I feel like driving so we're just gonna cruise around for a bit. We have some time to kill until Alice and Edward get back anyways."

"Okay," was all I managed to say to that.

Emmett continued to sing loudly and horribly along with the songs. Rosalie ogled Emmett the whole time and joined in with the singing during the songs that she knew. Jasper and I probably had the best time on Emmett's little joy ride. We spent the time silently mocking both Emmett and Rosalie. We made faces that resembled Emmett's when he tried to put too much emotion into his face while singing, and Rosalie's enchanted look as she watched her knight in shining armor serenade her. I didn't even notice when we pulled into the Cullen's long driveway, Jasper and I were laughing way too hard. I realized that my eyes were filled with tears again, but at least they were happy tears. Geez, what was with all of the crying in the last few days? Bloody hormones.

Emmett and Rosalie were looking at Jasper and I furiously, I guess they noticed that we were making fun of them. I heard a car pull up behind the Jeep. Tired of sitting I opened the door and attempted to gracefully step out. Nothing ever worked according to plan. As I was falling arms snagged me out of no where. I smelt a delicious aroma that could only belong to one person. Maybe falling on my face every 2 minutes was worth it if I got to smell him. I quickly turned around and saw my own personal savior and threw my arms around him for a hug, "Is it pathetic that I missed you?" I whispered hoping no one would hear.

"Yup," a female voice replied. I knew it wasn't Alice because it wasn't chipper enough. Rosalie. I pretended that she didn't say anything and kissed Edward's cheek.

As I was pulling away he arranged us so that we could walk side by side with his arm around my waist. While he was doing this he said, "Don't worry, I missed you too. I'm extremely happy you somehow got off work early."

Oh right. Edward didn't know. Now I was going to have to explain it all over again. Fabulous. I was going to cry yet again today.

As we walked inside the miniature castle I felt Edward trying to guide me. Well, maybe trying wasn't the right word, I'd follow him anywhere. What was I thinking? Anywhere? I barely knew the guy. Maybe I've read too many romance novels, I think I'm starting to believe in love at first sight.

We were walking up the stairs and he protectively pulled me closer to him as if it would slim my chances of tripping. I almost tripped once but I had so much weight on him that it didn't effect my travel all that much. I did however, feel Edward silently laughing at me.

When we got to the top of the stairs he led me to his room. _His _room. Awkward? Nah, it shouldn't be. We've already had a sleepover. _Ha ha_ wow, a sleepover. I sounded like I was in elementary all over again, but I suppose there wasn't really another word for it. It wasn't anything close to a one night stand. Edward pulled me into a sitting position next to him on his bed. He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear and looked into my eyes longingly.

"So," Edward started, "What happened today?"

I explained the story again and somehow didn't cry. Maybe I had filled my crying quota for the month within 3 days. The whole time I spoke, Edward did not take his eyes off of mine. It made it extremely hard to concentrate, but I was pretty sure that if he looked anywhere else I would have pulled his face back to look me in the eyes again. I couldn't take my eyes off of his either, no matter how hard I tried. I finally finished my explanation again after what seemed like forever.

Edward continued to look into my eyes he held my face between his hands and his inquiring stare pierced my eyes, "Are you sure you're okay? That was quite the emotional beating."

"I'm perfectly fine now that I'm with you," I replied as I curled up next to him.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"What for? You didn't do anything."

"Sure I did, I shouldn't have turned my cell phone off. I just wasn't expecting to spend the night at your place so my battery was almost dead and I get bad reception in the grocery store, so I decided that I might as well just turn it off."

"That's not your fault, you didn't know that I'd become unemployed 2 weeks earlier than planned," I teased, why was I comforting him exactly?

"Well I should have been intellegent enough to give you my number to begin with."

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him, "You can't blame this on yourself, you had nothing to do with it. You could have only made it better by being a part of it."

He smiled at that I felt him lower me into a lying position on the bed and he wrapped himself around me. He played with my hair and would kiss me at random intervals usually in a different spot every time, but nowhere too risqué. Cuddling with Edward was the best experience anyone could ever have.

**A/N: So what did you guys think? If you read it, please let me know what you like and don't like. I like criticism! It helps build my writing technique. I know not a lot happened in this chapter and I apologize for that but life will go on! Now I don't want to set a certain amount of reviews that I need before I update because I think that's stupid and hate when people won't update until they get an x number of reviews. I believe that a writer should write because he/she wants to write not to please the readers. HOWEVER, reviews do help to motivate a writer to write. I love waking up to 20 emails with reviews for my story. I makes me feel so happy and want to start writing right away. So that's all I have to say about the review topic. Hope everyone is doing well!**

**Amanda XD**


	17. Chapter 17

"Dinner smells delicious Mrs. Cullen!" I said as Edward and I walked towards the dinner table hand in hand.

"Thank you Bella," she replied, "Although, I believe we haven't actually been introduced yet. You may call me Esme."

"Nice to meet you Esme," I said as I removed my right hand from Edward's to shake her hand.

Esme smiled at me warmly and motioned for me to sit down at the table.

I sat down and looked around the table at the food that was displayed. There was mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh homemade buns, and meat loaf. It all looked mouth-watering and I couldn't wait to dig in.

"Mom must really want to make an impression," Edward stated, "Homemade buns _and _her meat loaf. That's her specialty."

"No pressure eh?" I asked blushing, why was it really so important to impress _me?_

Edward laughed at my comment and kissed me softly on the cheek which enforced the flood of blood to my face. At the kitchen table, really, why did he have to torment me in this way? I hated being the center of attention.

"Get a room guys," Emmett said grinning slyly directly across from me on the other side of the table. Everyone laughed, except for me. I just tried to hide my embarrassment.

Emmett started to load his plate with all the food and passed each plate to Rosalie as he was finished with each one. The food eventually made it's way to Edward and I. I looked at the amount of food on my plate compared to Emmett's and laughed silently. Edward looked at me wondering why I was laughing.

"Emmett, you have enough food on your plate for an army," I snickered, stating the obvious.

He shrugged like it didn't matter and started to eat. I looked around the table and noticed that everyone was coupled up. The only couple that hadn't developed over the weekend of course, was Carlisle and Esme. When they caught each others eyes I had to glace away. The love that they shared was unbearable to watch because it seemed like very private moments when they looked at each other. I sighed and turned my lips upward slightly at the thought that true love was possible in this world.

"So Bella," Carlisle started, "What are you plans for September?"

"Oh, I'm going to school at the same place as everyone else I guess. I'll be studying literary classics."

"That is so neat Bella!" Esme praised, "I guess that means you like to read, any books you would recommend?"

Before I could reply, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get that," Carlisle said, "I wonder who that could be." Carlisle got up from the table and went to answer the door.

I was mainly trying to concentrate on my food but the visitor was talking loud enough for the whole kitchen to hear, and I tried desperately to block the words from my head. But when you hear words like Newton and Bella all in the same sentence it can be rather distracting if the Bella mentioned is you. I cringed at the words wondering who the visitor was.

Carlisle came around the corner and looked at me questioningly, "Bella, Mr. Newton is here to see you, he says he wants to apologize."

I nodded, a little confused. What did he want to apologize for? He was the only Newton that hadn't done anything to me. And how did he know I was at the Cullen's? Or where the Cullen's lived in the first place.

I slowly rose from my chair trying not to shake. Edward had his hand on my back trying to steady me, he started to get up too, probably to accompany me to the front door.

"Stay here please," I whispered to him as quietly as possible, "Everything will be fine." I walked towards the front door and as as I rounded the last corner, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Maybe everything _wouldn't _be fine.

I stood there stunned for a moment trying to decide if I was just going to kick him out or walk away and hope he got the picture.

"I'm sorry Bella," he pleaded, "For everything, can you forgive me? Can we go back to being friends? I promise that I won't make it awkward. I'd rather have you as a friend than as nothing at all."

"I don't know Mike," emotion flooded through my system making it hard to think coherently.

"Please, just think about it, and get back to me. My mom says you can keep your job if you want it."

"Do you honestly think that I'd want to even step foot into that store again considering some of the things she said to me?" I asked strongly due to the anger that washed through me with the mention of the vial Mrs. Newton.

"N-no, but it was worth a shot. We don't get a lot of applicants at the store. Finding a new person would be difficult. And dad talked to her, she says she'll be nice."

"Oh so are you saying that you're really just over here to get me to come back to work for your family?" I glared at him threateningly. The phrase, _if looks could kill_ may have crossed Mike's mind.

"No Bella, no!" Mike practically shouted, "I need you in my life, I love you too much to just have you walk out of it."

I had not clue what to say anymore. My eyes started to water. Apparently my crying quota wasn't used up yet. "I think you need to go now Mike. I'm sorry. I'll think about what you said but I can't think straight right now."

I lightly started pushing him back towards the door. When he was out I quickly closed and locked the door and slid down beside it. I wasn't sure how long I just sat there, staring up at the roof trying not to cry. Why was I trying to hold back the tears? I didn't care for Mike that much did I? I thought back to all of the good times we had as friends. I guess that is why I'm crying. Mike had been a pretty decent friend compared to the likes of Jessica and many of the other Fork's High graduates. The loss of such a good friend hurt. Sure I could continue my friendship with Mike hoping that it would be different, but it would be different. And I had no way of telling what the difference would be until the new friendship was tried. But did I really even want to try?

I could feel the tears finally making their escape and changed my view from the ceiling to straight in front of me. I was startled to see Edward standing there staring at me through empathetic eyes. How much had he heard? Did he think I was crying because I loved Mike or for another reason?

"Why are you crying Bella, you can tell me, I'll be here as long as you need me to be."

"Mike said he loved me," I somehow managed to say this through my tears without stuttering, "He still wants to be friends because it's better than nothing. I feel bad because I don't know if I can even be friends with him anymore, but I don't want to hurt him more than I already have."

"Bella, you are the most unselfish person that I know. Maybe you should be a little selfish for once and just do what makes you happy."

"I don't know what will make me happy though Edward. We were pretty good friends in high school. I love him," these words caught Edward off guard and his face betrayed him, "but only as a brother." I finished with a very true statement.

Edward sighed, clearly relieved that I wasn't in love with Mike. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs, kissed my forehead and then leaned his forehead on mine. I felt better instantly just by staring into his brilliant emerald eyes. I smiled so that I could show him the change in my feeling, "Come one let's go finish that delicious dinner your mom made."

I got up and held his hand leading him back toward the kitchen. Despite the situation I was smiling a truly happy smile. It must have looked out of place to the others because my eyes were still red and puffy from crying.

"Hey Edward! Why is Bella so happy?" Emmett asked rather loudly as he threw us a suggestive wink.

I rolled my eyes at Emmett, I wanted to say something like_ What are you talking about Emmett? Edward lasts longer than that, _but his parents were there and I didn't want to be in yet another awkward situation. So instead I just kept smiling and winked at Edward, who smiled in return and tried not to laugh too hard.

The rest of dinner went by great, everyone was making small talk with each other, tightening the bond between us all. It seemed that Rosalie avoided talking with me, and every time I'd start talking to Emmett she would just glare at me. What had I done to offend her?

When dinner was finished Esme and Carlisle said that they would clean up and the rest of us could go do what ever.

"Football game guys! Let's go guys vs. gals," Emmett suggested, "You know you wanna!"

I instantly got nervous at the suggestion. Me playing a _sport_? A likely story would be me trying to run, tripping and cracking my head open almost as soon as the game started. As much as I tried to say no to the other 5 who all, unfortunately wanted to play, I ended up caving in and playing.

"I won't be much help at all," I said honestly to Rosalie and Alice.

"Oh Bella," Alice laughed, "Rose and I will be more than a match. You can just stand there and distract Edward. He's the star running back of the family. Without him, Emmett won't look as good in the QB position."

Rosalie grinned maliciously, she apparently had a plan. It must be a good one because she wasn't glaring at me.

"Well, I may be able to help you out with that one," I said shrugging innocently.

We went out to the giant yard, that was maybe just slightly smaller than a regulation sized foot-ball field. Emmett and Edward went and marked the end zones and I noticed Jasper coming out of the garage with a football.

The guys decided that we girls should start with the ball to give us an advantage. We lined up against each other. Rosalie and Alice looked ready to take off at a moments notice, Edward was crouched looking like a lion about to catch his prey. We decided that Rosalie should be QB because Alice was smaller and could slip between people easier, and well, I just wasn't coordinated enough for that position. The plan was to throw the ball to me. All I had to do was catch it to gain yards, I wouldn't even have to run as long as I made it far enough before Rosalie had to throw the ball. We figured that everyone would cover Alice because who in their right minds would actually throw the ball to the biggest klutz around?

I somehow managed to make it far enough for Rosalie to throw the ball to me to gain more than 3 yards. Now I just had to catch the ball. I waited a couple of seconds and watched the field. Emmett was covering Rosalie and Alice was on the opposite side with Jasper and Edward covering her. Our plan _would_ work as long as I could catch the ball. I saw it coming. Crap. Now I have to figure out to be coordinated. I managed to catch the ball, and as it landed in my hands I saw 3 guys running towards me. Edward was the closest, they all looked a little surprised at my moment of coordination. They didn't look like they were going to stop the running any time soon, so I started running towards the proper end zone so I wouldn't get trampled.

"Go Bella go!" I heard Alice yelling at me encouragingly.

That's when it hit me. Literally. Well not so much of an _it_ , more of a _him_.

"Ugh," I cried when I hit the ground. When the shock from being tackled dissipated, I rolled over to see who the attacker was. Edward. Of course, he was the closest. I grinned mischievously, time to put the next plan into action.

"What was that for?" I asked innocently.

"Well Bella," Edward said matter-of-factly, "We are playing football, and you had the ball. So, I tackled you."

"Clearly. But no one told me we were playing _tackle_ football," I pouted.

Edward laughed and started to get up. Now was the time to attempt the impossible for the second time within a minute. I had to be sexy Rosalie had told me. To keep Edward distracted the whole game.

"Oh no you don't," I murmured just loudly enough so that only Edward could hear me. As I said that I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him a little closer to me. I stared at him trying to seduce him with my eyes. I couldn't tell if he was taking the bait or not. His poker face was perfect. After a few seconds I could see the conflict starting in his eyes. I lightly bit my lower lip trying to look like I wasn't a committing a crime by trying to be sexy. The longing was starting to become clearer in his eyes.

Now was the time to complete the beginning of the plan. I pulled him as close to me as possible and let my left hand trail up and down his arm while my right continued to hold his collar. I pulled my head a little off the ground to bring my head closer to Edwards. I barely pressed my lips to his but I let them linger in that spot for a few second and breathed on him. That worked apparently. Because I felt Edward trying to pull me closer to him. As much as I didn't want to, I resisted and pushed him away. I slowly got up. I looked at Edward. He looked a little dazed, which was funny because that was what I usually looked like around him.

I went back to my team mates where they were waiting for me. They both high-fived me.

"That was pretty _hot_ Bella," Alice said, "I bet Edward's going crazy right now. I can smell the victory!"

Rosalie and I laughed at Alice's assumption.

The game continued on rather uneventful for the next hour.

"Edward isn't playing anywhere near as good as he usually does," Alice claimed, "Well done Bella!"

I blushed at the reason for the praise which caused Alice and Rosalie to snicker.

"I think it's time the game got more eventful," Rosalie stated.

"I couldn't agree more! The score is too close for comfort," Alice agreed.

I groaned at the thought of the other plans these two could concoct.

"Don't worry Bella," Alice said, "This one is all Rosalie."

The guys were the ones with the ball this time. I decided that if events were what was planned, I might as well try to distract Edward even more. As long as I could keep up with him that is. That man was a speed demon, he could out run everyone. I decided to get a head start and ran closer to the end zone that Edward would momentarily be running to.

Emmett started the play by backing away from the line of scrimmage and waited to throw the ball to either Edward or Jasper. Edward was nearing me and I caught his eye and winked at him. He grinned and tried to ignore me running passed me in the pattern that had been planned. Emmett started his throwing motion, it looked like he was throwing it towards Edward. I went to brush my self up against him to try and dislodge his concentration. That wasn't need however because the ball never came. Right as Emmett was releasing the ball, Rosalie flashed him and he ended up throwing it almost directly into Alice's arms.

Alice cheered and took off unopposed to the opposite end zone.

"Awe Rose! That so wasn't fair!" Emmett complained. Everyone broke out in laughter then.

Alice was on the way back from the end zone, "So, is that game over?"

"I guess so," Edward said a little too enthusiastically. Everyone agreed and we walked back into the house. We were all laughing, and I couldn't believe how much fun I had actually had playing. I didn't even trip too many times. When we got in Esme said that her and Carlisle were going to be going to sleep right away because they both had to be up early in the morning for work.

We chattered with each other for another hour or so when Rosalie mentioned that she was getting tired. I looked at the clock. Whoa, it was already 11. At least I didn't have to worry about going to work tomorrow.

Jasper and Rosalie headed home.

"Want to spend the night Bella?" Alice asked, "I have some really cute pj's you can borrow!"

"Sure," I said, thinking nothing of out of the norm about the invite.

"Great! I'll go set up the guest room!" Alice took off to go prepare my bed. Emmett got up saying nothing, but surely thinking of all the innuendos he wanted to say, and left Edward and I alone. Edward moved loser to me on the love seat.

"So," he said quietly, "Did you have a good day?"

"It was not as bad as it could have been," I replied simply.

"What about now?" he asked and he kissed my lips as lightly as I had kissed his earlier.

I gasped in pleasure. I hadn't realized how much of a tease this type of kiss was.

"It was a great day," I replied slightly out of breath, "How about yours?"

"I won't lie, I've been pleasantly distracted for the last few hours. It has been wonderful and horrible all at the same time."

Well, I guess I accomplished my mission. I smiled slyly at thought of me doing something right. His lips were on mine then. It was a full kiss. I loved shape of his lips on mine. It was as if we were pieces of a puzzle and every little curve locked into place when we touched. He held me in his arms as tightly and closely as possible, kissing me passionately. I ran my tongue slowly along his lower lip, he moaned in pleasure and started to lightly trail his hand down my spine to my lower back. My shirt was slightly raised up due to my position and when his hand made it to my lower back he his skin and I gasped at the unexpected, sensual touch. One of my hands tangled in his hair and the other was placed on his neck to bring him as close to me as possible.

"You're room is ready Bella," Alice said coming out of now where.

I jumped in shock and blushed. Alice grinned and went back upstairs to her room.

Edward smiled, "I guess it's time for bed." He walked me to bed and we shared a very short good night kiss at the door of the room I'd be spending the night in before he left me and walked to his room.

**A/N: Hope you liked, I had fun writing this chapter :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Thanks so much to all of you that have reviewed, it's greatly appreciated! I will be slowing the updates for this story, as I plan to start a second one. It won't be Twilight related however. I will be writing based off of The Heir series. So, if you actually want to read more of my writing go buy The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir and The Dragon Heir by Cinda Chima NOW! But you only really need to read the first one to not have anything spoiled for you. Ha ha just kidding, but you guys seriously don't know what you're missing! I've made it my personal mission to get these books read by more people so you may hear a bit more about them :p**

**I'm so excited right now, I get to see the Backstreet Boys in concert tomorrow! I'm surprised I managed to focus long enough to write tonight XD**

**Anyways, on to the story. I'm skipping a week because I'm bored and want to get on with the college scene.**

The rest of that week flew by. I spent most of my time with Edward, and when he was at work I hung out with Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie; my new found friends. Rosalie seemed to be warming up to me. I wasn't sure why she was so cold towards me in the first place.

I had managed to get a part-time job at the Chapters around the corner from Seattle's University, but I didn't start until the same day school started so I still had plenty of time to kill in that last week of summer.

I had never thought I could be so close with a group of people. My mind was always closed to others, with only my face betraying me. I found myself becoming extremely comfortable with the Cullen's and company, Edward and Alice more so than the others.

Alice took me shopping in that last week, buying me way too many new outfits. It was for the new school year she claimed as we went into every store before I could object.

Edward usually stayed at my place until around midnight every night. We had talked and decided that as strong as we felt about each other it was best to keep temptation at bay and not spend whole nights together unless completely necessary. We did many different things, from just sitting and talking, bowling, and movies. He even got me watching and playing sports, I did however, end up with many more cuts a bruises due to this.

We spent a fair amount of time kissing too. Those were the favorite parts of my days. We never did more than kiss, because Edward felt very strongly about the no sex before marriage belief. I was okay with it, I didn't want to get pregnant.

Why couldn't more guys be like Edward? It seemed like he was perfect in every possible way. How did I get such a good catch? That was a question that I asked myself about ten times a day.

I had spent this last night before school at the Cullen's place because Alice insisted that she do my hair and makeup. Oh, and I almost forgot; she was also picking out one of my new outfits for me to wear. That frightened me a little bit because not all of them were my style at all, and I didn't want people to get the wrong impression of me on the first day of school.

I was awaken from my slumber by a cool touch surrounding my body. I smiled slightly knowing that it was Edward, I decided to pretend to sleep to see what he would do. I could feel his bare chest against my back.

Sure enough, Edward never failed to deliver. He lightly ran his fingers up from my waist around to my back and up my spine to touch my neck slightly and then back down my arm to where he gently placed his hand in mine. I could feel his cool and comforting breath on the back of my neck the whole time, and it took way too much self control to try not to shiver in delight.

"Time to wake up my beautiful Bella," Edward whispered in my ear softly. He kissed my jaw so lightly it could have been a feather. Then, he nibbled my ear lobe a little bit. That shocked me, he had _never_ done that before. I could no longer pretend to be asleep, I was wide awake.

"That was different," I stated trying not to show any emotion, but losing that battle.

Edward grinned, clearly pleased at my response. "Good morning to you too."

"Good is an understatement," I smirked. And then I rolled over to meet his eyes.

They seemed crystal clear, like I could see everything inside of him through the portal of his eyes. I smiled knowing that he would tell me anything that was necessary for our relationship to continue. I couldn't remember being any more happy and satisfied with life than at this moment. I smiled the biggest smile I could without looking too stupid and wrapped my arms around him to bury myself into his chest.

He ran his fingers through the nest that was my bed head hair and kissed my hairline.

"I think Alice is waiting for you in her room. You should get up so she doesn't storm in here like a hurricane."

"It's only Alice," I sighed, "She can't torture me any more than what she already has planned for me today."

"I'm sure she could think of something," Edward teased.

I grimaced at the thought of her occupying so much of my time that I barely got to see Edward, I hugged him in tighter to me and looked back into his eyes. "I've never been so happy before in my life. Thank you so much Edward."

"I think you've got it mixed up," Edward replied, "I'm the one that should be thanking you for making my life so blissful."

"How about we call it even?"

"Sounds good to me."

We both moved in to kiss each other, when our lips met it felt so natural. There was still the human hesitation in the kiss though, which made it perfect. Our lips moved together for a few minutes, then I slowly started to trace my tongue along the top of his lips. His tongue tangled in with mine and I moaned in ecstasy. Edward usually didn't go this far into the kiss, whenever I started with tongue he always pulled away. What had gotten into him this morning? I didn't want to miss this amazing opportunity and I poured more passion and lust into the kiss. Edward felt it and added more passion himself he pulled me as close to him as possible and roughly ran his hand up my left side and breast, which was also more contact than usual. Both of my hands wrapped themselves in his hair and I hitched one of my legs up to wrap it around his waist. I nibbled his lip and and subtly ground myself up and down his body a few times. We were both moaning in pleasure and I could start to feel sweat forming on my forehead.

I broke away from the kiss and started to trail kisses down his neck and then onto his chest where I sucked on his nipple for a few seconds, this made him shiver and I started to kiss my way back up to his neck. "Edward," I half whispered and half moaned.

He then smoothly moved me so that I was lying on my back and he started to kiss my neck. He was being rougher than he usually was, which turned me way too much. I was beyond self control now. If anyone was ending this make out session it was Edward. Who cares about school. I felt him linger on one particular kiss on my neck and I moaned at the extreme feeling. Edward had all of his body weight on me now and I could feel him getting hard through his sweats. He returned to kissing my lips and nibbled one of my ears again, but this time a little harder and a little less playfully. "Bella," he groaned quietly.

I heard a burst of laughter from the door. Edward looked up before I did. When I looked up I saw Emmett and Alice with a video recorder. If my face could have gotten any hotter it would have. That was beyond all possibility now.

Emmett grinned slyly and dashed away and yelled "Facebook here I come!"

If I hadn't been in such a pure moment of bliss I would have run after him and stopped him. Edward seemed to be thinking along the same lines because he just glared at Alice, who was trying extremely hard not to laugh too hard.

"Bella needs to get up to shower now, I'm running out of time to do her hair," Alice said glaring straight back at Edward.

"Okay," Edward agreed with his body still pressed against mine, "A moment or two please?"

Alice nodded at left the room.

"Now where were we?" Edward said as he kissed me roughly again. The kiss unfortunately, only lasted a few seconds before Edward sighed and got up into a sitting position.

"Edward?"

"Yes Bella?"

"What changed?"

Edward laughed at the question and shrugged, "I think I'm falling completely in love with you Bella, way sooner than I ever expected. I'm having too hard of a time controlling myself around you. And considering the consequences, I'll be fighting the urges even more now, this got a little out of hand today."

I grimaced at the thought of Edward not kissing me for a while and gripped him tighter to me. He laughed again and kissed the top of my head and got up and left the room.

I sighed and grabbed my towel and robe to head to the shower. I got in the shower and just turned on the cold tap and jumped in. What just happened, was the very reason we decided to never spend whole nights together. That could have ruined so much that we shared together. In a way I was really glad that Emmett and Alice caught us before it could actually go any farther, but I still wished that it could. Oh well, I guess I'll have to be patient. I washed my hair and body letting the cold water cool me off. I could still feel some sweat on my forehead.

I got out of the shower, put my robe on and wrapped the towel in my hair to dry it off. I opened the door and walked to Alice's room. I ran into Emmett, who was just leaving Alice's room.

"Hey Bella, how's your morning so far?" he winked.

I grimaced, "It's been wonderful thank you."

Emmett started to chuckle and I wondered what the cause was this time.

"What is it?" I asked slightly confused.

"Y-y-you h-have a hickey," Emmett managed to say in his laughter.

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks again and touched the spot where I remembered Edward kissing my neck for a longer period of time.

Emmett nodded to confirm my suspicions of where the hickey was.

"I guess Edward might have to lose the title of prude now," Emmett said, "which is too bad, because it was fun bugging him about it." With that he sighed and went downstairs.

Alice didn't say anything when she was doing my hair and makeup. I realized it must be the only time she didn't talk, because she didn't say much when she prepped me for my first date with Edward just over a week ago. A week? I couldn't believe it had only been a week. It felt like forever. But if every week felt like forever and I was with Edward I didn't really care.

Alice finished up with my hair and she passed me the clothes she had picked out for me. She gave me a pair of dark cut off jean shorts and a white and blue tank top to layer. I put the white on the bottom to make the blue stand out more. Alice was no longer in her room, so I headed down to the kitchen where everyone else ended up being.

Emmett was the only one facing the direction of the doorway and I saw his eyes brighten when he saw me come in. "So Edward," Emmett started, "I need to congratulate you."

"Er, for what?" Edward asked a little confused.

Alice was stifling a laugh when Emmett replied, "Because you are no longer considered a prude."

Edward did the unexpected and blushed and just looked down at his plate and kept eating.

I felt bad for him being teased and walked up to the chair next to him. I rubbed his back and kissed him on the cheek. He smiled at me in return.

"Bella, you should show Edward the love mark," Emmett commented.

Edward looked at me with a pained expression, "Did I hurt you?"

Emmett burst out in laughter, "Ah ha ha never mind Edward. You're still a prude."

I moved my hair aside to show Edward the 'love mark'.

"Sorry," he murmured in my ear.

"No need to be sorry, I kinda like it."

After my comment, that apparently Emmett and Alice had both heard, Alice could contain her laughter no more.

Edward seemed uncharacteristically very embarrassed. I wasn't hungry so I gripped his hand and started to pull his arm in the direction of the doorway to see if he'd get the hint. "C'mon, let's go. University awaits. See you two around."

Edward happily followed. When we were about to walk out the front door Edward stopped me and kissed me. This kiss was once again a little rougher but still had the raw soft emotion that Edward usually put into his kisses. "You look simply irresistible today."

I smiled at his comment and headed out the door before we could get carried away again. That was the last thing I needed before the first day of my post-secondary education.

**A/N: So I realize now that this chapter was a lot of making out. I'm going to make fun of myself and say that I am living my love life vicariously through Edward and Bella! Oh man, totally kidding, I'm not that obsessed with Twilight. Close but not quite there yet. Hope you liked!**

**Amanda**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: For later in the chapter Alice will be italics and Bella will be Bold.**

I kissed Edward good-bye before we parted ways to go to our separate classes. My first class was English 101, which was probably going to be extremely boring. I looked at the map of the university and tried to memorize it so I didn't look like a freshman as I was walking down the hallways looking lost. When I actually walked into the building, I discovered that the map wasn't all that necessary. There were many signs pointing the direction of all the lecture halls, labs etc..

I walked through the appropriate halls to make it to room 417. When I the doors of the room came into view, I saw the one person I was maybe not all that ready to confront yet. Mike. I sighed and figured that I might as well get it over with, even though I still had no clue what I was planning on saying to him. In the end, I decided to try and be evasive about it and hope Mike didn't see me.

I managed to blend in with a crowd of people entering the room, and as far as I knew Mike hadn't seen me. I sighed when I got into the room. I went to an empty seat at the back of the room, just right of center. There was still ten minutes until class started so I folded my arms on top of the table and rested my forehead on them. I thought about the mornings events. It didn't seem all that much like Alice to invade someone's privacy, although I wouldn't put it past Emmett and he _did _have a video camera in his hands. I worried about what he actually got on tape.

I looked up when I felt a light pat on my shoulder. Of course, it was none other than Mike.

"Hey Bella. I was wondering if you thought about our last conversation," he said.

"Uh well I have. I think, that we could be still friends, but more of acquaintances than actual friends. If I see you in the hallway I'll say hi, but don't get your hopes up on any hanging out, at least not right away. I just don't see me being able to do that with you anymore."

Mike nodded, "Are you sure though? We couldn't just hang out here on campus?"

"No Mike, if we end up at the same party so be it. It doesn't mean we can be good friends again."

"Hey Bella, thanks for saving me a seat," Alice said as she popped out of no where and pushed Mike aside to sit next to me. Mike must have gotten the hint because he just sighed and left without saying good bye.

"Thank you Alice," I said clearly relieved.

"No problem. I figured he was still trying to cling on to you."

As happy as I was that she saved me from Mike, I was still upset about what had happened this morning. I gave Alice a grimace at the thought, and she looked a little offended.

"What are you here?" I asked Alice.

"I'm in it silly, do you really think you're the only one taking English 101?"

I shrugged, I didn't want to say anything I'd regret out of anger. The professor walked in at that moment, saving me from anything I could have said. She made her introductions and started with the lecture. I was immediately bored and started to doodle writing down notes whenever I thought it was important or something that I didn't already know.

About half way through the class Alice pushed a piece of paper towards me.

_What happened this morning isn't what you think it was._

I rolled my eyes and replied, **Then what was it really?**

_First off, we weren't invading your privacy at all. If you want to blame anyone for what we saw, blame Edward. He left the door open when he came to wake you up._

**Did you have to stay and watch though? I mean really...**

_We hadn't really seen anything until Emmett laughed. Emmett stopped me on the way back to my room, he wanted to ask me my opinion about the commercial that he was working on. And then he looked in accidentally and laughed_

**Commercial for what?**I had to stop this. Crap. She was changing the subject.

_For school, his film professor always starts off the year with a commercial project. He was just getting a head start._

**So how much did he tape of Edward and I? And why oh why did he have to put it on Facebook?**

_Ha ha ha ha, he didn't tape anything of you guys at all. I told you, we just noticed you guys when Emmett laughed. And Emmett was just putting the video on Facebook to get the inputs of some of his classmates._

**Fine. Sorry for being a cow about this. Why does Emmett have to tease Edward about his principles so much?**

_Emmett will be Emmett. Edward should be used to it by now. If he's not, then that's his problem I guess. Maybe you and Edward should just do the deed and get it over with already. Emmett will never bug Edward about being a prude again. At least you're a part of his life now though. Emmett can't bug him about being gay anymore – that's what Emmett was laughing about by the way. He saw you guys and was a little disappointed. But he laughed because he was happy for Edward, and he was glad he was wrong._

I felt Alice laughing silently at the table.

**Geez, why does Emmett have to be such a jerk sometimes?**

_He does it out of love. Edward knows he's just teasing. What else are big brothers for?_

**I guess you're right. I suppose I couldn't see that because I'm an only child.** I sighed, I had always wanted to have a sibling.

Alice and I were both satisfied with the outcome of our conversation at that point, and we brought our attention back to the lecture. I resumed doodling and note taking, but it didn't last all that long. My mind soon started to wander back to the glorious beginning of my day. I smiled at the thought and then remembered that Edward had said it wouldn't go that far again. I grimaced and sighed. A girl can dream at least.

When class was over Alice and I went our separate ways on peaceful terms. I had a French class next. I didn' t know anyone in that class, and I gladly accepted that there was no time to meet new people. A lot of my French class was a lot of introductory stuff that I already knew, but I happily paid attention as it was a very good refresher. French went by quicker than I thought it would and then it was lunch time. I would get to meet up with Edward and maybe get a kiss or two out of it.

I walked to the cafeteria, where Edward promised me that he'd find me. I was starving and didn't want to wait for him to get there to eat. I headed over to the line and checked out the menu. The only thing that really seemed appealing to me that day was a cheeseburger and fries. I ordered and went to sit down.

I started to eat, when I heard someone with a French accent talking behind me. He pulled out a chair and sat next to me.

"Hello," he said to me holding out a hand to shake. I took it and let a small smile come on my face. He had a large build and he seemed a little too confident. He was bordering on the line of cocky. He was probably the jock that every girl wanted in high school. "My name is Laurent."

"Bella," I replied.

"Indeed, you are quite beautiful."

I blushed at the comment. "Thanks," I managed to mutter.

"You looked a little bored in French today."

I looked shocked that he had noticed me from French. Then I thought that it was a little creepy that he may have possibly followed me here from French. "Maybe a little."

He laughed, "Me too. I was surprised when I came into the cafeteria to see you sitting alone. I thought that you would be with friends."

"Oh, well I'm waiting for someone to meet me here. He'll probably be here soon."

As if on cue, I heard a chair pull out on the other side of me.

"Hey Edward," Laurent said before I could even look to see who it was.

"Laurent," Edward replied nodding his head once.

"Look at the beautiful lady I met. Bella, isn't she breath taking?"

I was a little annoyed at how he was talking about me as if I wasn't sitting right there.

"Yes, she definitely is. Beautiful beyond what words can describe," Edward complimented as he took one of my hands between both of his.

Laurent grimaced at him, "Hey Edward, I found her first man."

"No Laurent, you really didn't," Edward laughed. I joined in laughing and gave Edward a light kiss on the cheek.

"Oh," was all Laurent said and got up from the table with a frown.

"Laurent apparently hasn't changed over the summer at all," Edward supplied, "He's used to getting any girl he wants. The expression on his face was priceless."

So I was right, at least partially as far as I knew. "Were you guys friends?" I asked.

"Not really. We talked to each other when we had to, but no more than that. We didn't hate each other or anything like that though."

I nodded completely understanding, unfortunately Forks was way too small to actually have friendly situations like that. It was either friends or enemies.

"Hey guys!" Emmett said loudly as he and Rosalie sat in chairs across from Edward and I. "How's your first day of your post-secondary education going?"

"It's been interesting," I replied. Edward nodded in agreement.

"Just so you both know," Emmett said looking at Edward and I, "I didn't put anything of you two on the internet. I didn't even tape anything. I swear. I decided to say the Facebook thing out loud to try and get a rise out of you guys, it was clear what you thought," Emmett chuckled, "But don't worry, I'm not that much of an asshole. Apparently you were both too blissful at the moment to really care. However, I ask that Edward closes the door next time and maybe throw a sock or tie on the door knob. No one wants to see that."

Rosalie laughed and smiled wickedly at Emmett and said, "Anyways, we'll be off now. Things to do."

And with that Emmett and Rosalie left the table looking suggestively into each other's eyes.

"And Emmett thinks we're dirty?" I questioned Edward rhetorically and rolling my eyes. Emmett's lust for Rosalie was very clear in his eyes.

When Edward and I were finished eating we went to our next class that we coincidentally had together. I couldn't be more thankful for such a good partner when it came to studying Shakespeare. We both loved his work and excelled at understanding what high school had given us to study in terms of Shakespeare.

We arrived almost twenty minutes early for the class due to boredom and we picked a table in the middle of the room and got our stuff out for the class. Edward sat to the left of me and the spot on my right was left available. I thought about how horrible it would be if Mike also happened to be in this class and noticed the empty seat next to me. I suddenly wished that Edward could multiply himself so he could sit on both sides of me.

While waiting for the class to start, I drifted off into a day dream once again about this morning. I thought about how advantageous having an Edward on each side of me in _that_ type of situation would be. The pleasant thought put a giant grin on my face that Edward happened to notice.

"What's the big smile for all of a sudden?" he asked me.

"No reason," I said somewhat mysteriously with the smile still plastered on my face.

"I wish I knew what you were thinking sometimes," Edward said as he cupped hands around my face. "You drive me absolutely crazy when you don't tell me things."

My smile managed to get bigger at this comment, sometimes it was a little too easy to tease Edward. "I _could _tell you. But it'll require some form of payment."

Edward brought his head within kissing distance of mine and started to dazzle me with his eyes. His eyes seemed to be thinking _Two can play at this game_. I grinned as my breath started to shorten at the close contact. Edward moved his head so that we were cheek to cheek, I could feel his breath on my ear. "What kind of payment exactly?" He whispered seductively.

"Hmm," I pretended to think about it, "Maybe a kiss or-" but before I could finish the proposal his lips were on mine. They weren't as forceful as they were this morning, but they were soft and light on my lips. As suddenly as his lips were on mine, they were off of them.

I gasped in both surprise and pleasure and the public display of affection. I never expected Edward to display his feelings for me like that in public, even if there were only a few other people in the room at the time. "Will you tell me now?" he asked me quietly as he dazzled me with his eyes once more.

"Well," I started, slightly out of breath, "If you would have let me finish. I was going to say a kiss or three." I smiled at the thought of more kisses without having to wait for them.

Edward pulled my face closer to his and he kissed my forehead and both of my cheeks and then he released my face from him hands, "There, that's four. So what were you thinking?"

I pouted at my defeat. I should have been more definitive with the word _kiss. _Edward chuckled and then looked at me seriously yet seductively all at the same time, "It's really not fair, you pouting." Before I could argue he put one finger against my lips to stay quite. "It's incredibly hard to resist. I'm sure you don't even understand how tempted I am to just take you off to a closet to make out with you."

"Edward," I gasped. He just kept surprising me over and over today. What was the deal? This wasn't like him at all. "Seriously, this isn't like you at all. Who are you really and what have you done with _my _Edward?"

Edward laughed, "You're Edward is still here, but the bad Edward likes to take over sometimes when the temptation is too great."

I thought about the little fantasy that I had had just moments ago with how this conversation originated. A good Edward and a bad Edward, if only they could separate and exist at the same time. That could be fun. I grinned again, "So, I suppose you want to know what I was thinking?"

"You bet I do," Edward replied.

"Well at first I was thinking about how crappy it would be if Mike was in this class and he picked the empty seat next to me." Edward looked disappointed at what I was thinking. "And I wished that I could multiply you so that you could sit on both sides of me. So then my mind started to drift to certain events that occurred this morning, aaand I maybe had a fantasy about how great two Edward's really could be." I finished, sounding more confident than I really felt. I was a little worried that the not-so-innocent side of Edward would go back into hiding. I realized at the last second that this could sound offending so I continued, "Oh and just so we're clear, I don't want two of you because you aren't a good kisser or anything. You're quite amazing at it actually."

Edward chuckled silently, "Well, if I could multiply to please you more I would. I'd do anything for you."

"I don't doubt that," I agreed.

"There's just limitations on the _anything_ for now."

I sighed knowing that he probably wasn't going to cave, at least not any time in the near future.

Class, unfortunately, started then and I tried to settle down to concentrate on Shakespeare. This class may end up being harder than I was actually expected.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: So I'm having a difficult time writing this story. I am going to be completely honest when I say that I had plans for the story which I'm trying to write but it's hard finding stuff to fill in between. If you think that it's moving too fast just pretend that it's months between each big event because that's how I pictured it I just had no clue how to do it when I started. I just started this story off as a rookie writer and I didn't know how to plot the story out properly. The story will be slowing down though now as I am sure of what I have to do. I've decided to finish this story and then continue on with other stories as I don't see me being able to write two completely different stories well, at once. I have seen the error of my way, and I will slowly be trying to fix it and make this story better. Thanks to all the readers that are still reading despite the crappiness.**

**I would really appreciate reviews. I haven't been getting any which kinda tells me that it's not all good. So I'm going to try slowing it down and see where it goes. Also, I'll be using a quote from the book in this chapter just because it's what I would have written myself! But don't worry I know that I don't own the actual series :(**

**Amanda**

The next few months went by like a blur. I ran into Jacob, who I met at the beach on that fateful weekend, on the Wednesday of the first week of school just before my Story comparison class. I was walking into the class room door when he came running out of it. He bowled me over and he landed on top of me. His face was so close to mine, if it had been Edward I wouldn't have wasted the opportunity.

"Why hello there. Bella right?" Jacob had asked me not bothering to move to get off of me.

I nodded as much as I could with my head on the ground, "Jacob, would you mind getting off of me?"

He grinned at me got to his feet and stretched out an arm to help me. "It's great to see you again Bella!"

"You too Jacob. How was the last week of your summer?" I asked. We were talking like we had been friends for a while, it was odd. But it felt so natural talking to him.

"It was rather uneventful," Jacob replied, "And I'm not going to lie Bella, meeting you was probably the most eventful thing that happened all summer."

"That is quite the uneventful summer," I laughed. "Are you in this class?"

"I sure am!"

"Then why were you running out of the door?"

"Oh no important reason. I'm just playing a joke on my friends Quil and Embry."

"Uh huh. Well, I'm going to go get a seat."

"You can come sit by me," Jacob told me enthusiastically, "Quil and Embry won't mind."

"Okay, sure," I agreed. I followed Jacob to where he and his friends were sitting.

"Hey guys," Jacob greeted his friends, "This is Bella. Bella, this is Embry and that is Quil." He said pointing towards each of them in turn. They were both just as large and muscular as Jacob was. They were Native American with long black hair tied behind them in a pony tail.

"Nice to meet you guys," I said.

"You too Bella!" Quil said, "We've been hoping to finally meet you after what Jacob has said about you."

Jacob punched Quil in the shoulder and Quil snickered at his defensiveness. I rolled my eyes and started to set my stuff out on my desk. How did I appear that interesting within a two minute conversation? I shrugged the unimportant thought off.

We made small talk until the professor came in to start the lecture about what things you looked at when you were comparing two stories. I could tell that the topic didn't interest the three friends all that much, it looked like they were having a very hard time not talking during the class.

After the class, it was lunch time and Jacob said that he wanted to meet my friends. Edward was late from his class so I introduced Jacob, Quil and Embry to Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett.

Jacob and his friends started to sit with us after that day, but there seemed to be a division between Jacob, Quil, and Embry and everyone else (except me). I didn't know why, but I was pretty sure that I would find out eventually. Edward was unhelpful and just said that it was because they didn't know him well yet, I knew he was lying and I was determined to find out.

I started to get a lot closer to Jacob, I just felt so natural around him. I didn't have to pretend, and if I tried to pretend Jacob saw right through it.

I started my new job at chapters, and I loved it. I loved helping people find the perfect book and the people that I worked with were great. The only downside to the job was that I saw much less of Edward and Alice. Edward didn't like that much either, he constantly told me that he wished he didn't have to sleep so that he could just watch me all night and spend more time with me.

But still, after almost 3 months Edward had kept his promise and we hadn't done much more than kiss in those three months. And heaven forbid! If there was tongue involved he very rarely let it go much farther, except for one day, shortly after the initial incident.

September 13th, one of my least favorite days of the year as all the attention was focused on me. The Cullen's had surprisingly never asked when my birthday was. So when it came to be that day I tried my best to act like it was a regular day. Edward and Jacob had both seen right through my charade though, as they usually did.

"Bells, why do you look so nervous today?" Jacob asked at lunch that day.

"Yeah," Edward nodded and agreed with Jacob, which may have been a first, "You look like you've committed a crime."

"Nope, nothing like that at all," I replied trying to sound innocent.

I received questioning glances from around the table. And I shook my head. I wasn't giving in that easily. If I gave in, Alice would almost definitely want to have a party for me, I would say or do anything to not get involved with a party.

"Come one Bella," Edward pleaded looking me in the eyes, "You can tell us, we're your friends."

I tried to look away from the gorgeous stars staring into my eyes but I couldn't. They were irresistible. I shook my head again, I wouldn't be able to answer properly if I spoke. I'd probably end up giving away my secret.

"Please Bella?" Edward asked again, still attempting to dazzle me with his eyes.

"How about I tell you in a couple of weeks?" I said slightly out of breath, "I'll feel better about the situation then."

Edward looked at me, puzzled. "Excuse us," he said to the rest of the table. He gently took my hand as he stood up. He stood there for a few seconds waiting for me to get up too and then led me out of the school into the lush, green courtyard. He picked a spot beside a tree and it gave us shade and cover from any prying eyes.

"So," Edward started slowly, staring into my eyes once again, "We're alone now. You can tell me anything you know, I won't use it against you. No one else has to know."

Why, oh why, did this god of a man have to know my every weakness? "I know I can tell you anything, I just don't want to tell you." I said.

Edward raised his eyebrows in a curious expression. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut, he was just going to try even harder now.

He pulled himself closer to me and snaked one arm around my waist and his other hand rested on my cheek. He pecked me softly on the lips once and whispered, "You're so beautiful, I feel so fortunate to have you in my life."

This seemed like _Seduction 101_ in my books. How could Emmett call Edward a prude? He had the seduction technique down pat, Edward was such a tease it was unbearable sometimes. And no matter how many times he used it to get information out of me, it never failed. I _always_ caved under his touch.

"I think we've had this conversation before," I stated, "I'm the lucky one."

Edward chuckled and kissed me again. Longer this time, and his hand slowly moved from my face to my neck. The combination of the heat of my neck from my rushing blood and Edward's cool hand felt so good, the sensation started to get my blood pumping even faster and I gasped at the sudden rush. I felt Edward's lips turn into a smile as he felt the pulse in my neck quicken. Now he knew he would win, yet again.

"Please tell me?" Edward whispered in my ear and then softly kissed my neck in a few random spots.

"No, I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. Edward grinned his crooked smile and placed his lips on mine again. His lips moved quicker this time and he braced my back with one of his large hands as he pushed me as close to him as possible. I was mentally lost by this time, my emotions had complete reign of me. Edward slowly started to trace my lips with his tongue which caused me to moan. Apparently Edward was the only one that was aloud to use tongue. I couldn't let him win every thing this round so I let my tongue join in with Edward's. Our tongues danced together for a minute and then Edward slowly trailed his hand down the side of my torso and slowly down my thigh. I shivered at the contact which made Edward grin again.

"Please. Will you tell me?"

"It's-my-birthday," I mumbled as quietly and quickly as my mouth would allow at the moment. I felt Edward's smile increase even more and he was laughing slightly as he held me and continued to kiss me, but slowly decreasing the amount of tongue involved. He pulled away and looked at me smiling his dazzling half-grin.

"Bella," he said, still holding me firmly, "You are utterly absurd. Birthdays are good things."

"You should know how much I hate being the center of attention, and you and your family give me enough as it is. I didn't want more." I stated.

Edward laughed, "Can I at least take you out for dinner?"

"As long as you don't tell anyone else," I agreed.

Edward started back towards the school. When we arrived back at the cafeteria Edward ended up telling everyone and I glared at him, but he just laughed and smiled at me. Alice, of course, wouldn't let the weekend end without a party for me. I was such a push-over, I ended up giving in to both Edward and Alice. They said that they wouldn't buy me gifts if I let Edward take me out for dinner and allow Alice to throw a party for me.

Dinner ended up being as romantic as ever with Edward, but how could it not be? He was the perfect gentleman. As romantic as the candle lit, picnic, birthday dinner was, it still made me glare at him slightly at first because I still had a party to attend. Edward and I mostly just talked about anything that we didn't know about each other yet, still forging the already strong bonds that we shared. I asked him to spend the night just this once, as it would be the only birthday gift allowed. He was hesitant to answer, but I could see the temptation in his eyes.

"I won't expect anything but a super handsome guy to cuddle with. I promise."

Edward looked relieved at my promise and agreed to stay the night with me. When we got to my place we watched a bit of TV, but there wasn't much on so we went to bed early. It was possibly the best sleep I had ever had.

Alice's party wasn't as bad as it could have been either. She didn't invite too many people, it was just our lunch crowd with the exception of Quil and Embry who couldn't make it. It was more of a get together than a party, but that was fine by me. Alice decorated the house with streamers and balloons. She bought an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, between everyone there, the cake was devoured within the hour.

We had a Wii sports tournament which I didn't fail too horribly at, as I had gotten lots of practice with Emmett in the last little while. We played a few games of Twister, which was hilarious to watch when you weren't playing. Emmett and Jacob were the last two playing at one point. They were both determined to win. Jacob had his head lying on Emmett's butt, and despite Emmett's taunts about it Jacob wouldn't give in. Jacob ended up winning as Emmett got a little too freaked out when Jacob's arm was a little too close to a certain body organ.

It was November, and it was it was Thanksgiving weekend. My mom, Renee, invited me to Jacksonville, Florida to spend the weekend with her and her husband Phil. I hadn't talked with her since school had started, and she didn't know about Edward. So when I told her, she insisted that Edward come with me. Renee was ecstatic that I finally had a boyfriend, and one that I seemed to like so much.

Edward agreed in an instant to come with me. He was glad that he'd finally get to meet one of my parents. Edward booked us a flight that left two hours after our last class on Friday. Alice picked us up and dropped us off at the airport.

"Don't have too much fun without me!" Alice yelled as we walked into the airport doors.

Edward and I went through the long and irritating process of checking in our luggage as quickly as possible. We were cutting it tight, time wise. We made it on the plane with about 15 minutes to spare. I occupied the window seat, and Edward took the aisle seat. I was excited to see my mom again, I hadn't seen her since the beginning of the summer. I was still nervous to introduce Edward to Renee. As perfect as I thought he was, what if Renee didn't like him? Edward, observant as ever picked up on my mood.

"You okay sweet heart?" Edward asked, "Are you afraid of flying?"

"No," I said. I knew that if I told him the real reason for being nervous that he would tease me about it and say everything would be fine. I just wanted to skip that part, so I tried to ignore the nervousness. "I'm fine don't worry."

I leaned over to him and kissed his cheek and rested my head on his chest. I might as well get comfy, we had long flight ahead of us. It wasn't as bad as it could have been though, Edward managed to get us on a non-stop flight.

Once the flight took off Edward started to shift in his seat uneasily.

"Antsy already?" I teased him, "The plane just took off."

"Antsy probably isn't the best word," Edward replied.

"Then what's wrong? Don't tell me that you're afraid of flying."

"No, not that either."

"Then what's up?" I questioned. I definitely curious now. Edward was not acting like his usual calm self, and I was more than intrigued.

"I have a question for you, but I'm not sure how to ask it."

"You know you can ask me anything. Even if I don't want to tell you, I always do. There's no way for me to resist you."

Edward laughed at my assessment, "Okay then. You asked for it." He paused and then let out a long breath, "What are your views on marriage?"

I couldn't help but stare at him open mouthed. Of all the questions in the world, I wasn't expecting to be asked that one. How was I supposed to answer such a loaded question?

"I-I I'm not proposing or anything, not yet anyways," Edward stuttered, "For the future."

"Well, that's a big question. I'm not sure how to answer it. I suppose that I want to get married one day. I always pictured myself getting married after I was done school. But who knows, people change." I explained as I looked into his eyes.

"Thank you, that's good to know," Edward replied as he kissed the side of my head.

I looked back into Edward's eyes and started to melt. I could marry him. I loved him, or at least I thought I did. I wasn't ready to tell him yet though. What if he didn't feel the same? The marriage question threw me off though, maybe he did love me too. Oh well, I still wasn't brave enough to find out. It would hurt too much if he didn't.

I kissed him fully on the lips for a few seconds and pulled away smiling. Usually Edward was the one wishing what I was thinking, but this time around, it was me. I'd give anything to find out how he truly felt about me. I held my hand up his face and just watched his face trying to find any trace of emotion. He was so good at staying calm and composed it was almost impossible to see what his feelings were. I thought that I saw a hint of love and compassion flit across his face. But then again, it could have just been me seeing what I wanted to see.

I removed my hand from his face and put it into one of his hands and held it. He smiled his heart-warming crooked smile and put his arm around my shoulder to pull me towards him. We sat there for who knows how long just holding each other. I was pretty sure that my smile never left my face, I felt more content than ever before. I couldn't hear anything around me, all that mattered was Edward. I could hear his heart beating normally and when I started to trace patterns along his hand and arm I felt his heart beat pick up. That made me smile even more, at least I knew now that my touch on him had a similar effect on him as his did on me.

"Awe how cute, newly weds!" A stewardess cheered as she stopped by our seats.

"Oh, we aren't married," I replied a little shocked at the assumption.

"Oh," the stewardess countered with a frown. She looked a little disappointed, "Can I get either of you something to drink?"

"Two Cokes," Edward answered for both of us, he usually knew what I'd order before I did.

"Here you go," the stewardess said as she handed us both a cup of Coke.

"Thank you," Edward and I said at the same time. We smiled at each other and I stifled a giggle.

The stewardess, who looked annoyed for no apparent reason, didn't reply and pushed her cart to the next aisle.

Edward got us a pair of headphones to watch movies on the TV's. We watched _Wild Hogs _and _27 Dresses._ Just as the second movie was ending the plane started to land. We gathered our stuff and managed to be one of the first people off of the crowded plane.

As nice as it was to get off of the plane, we still had to wait forever to get our luggage. It was after midnight by this point and I was anxious to get into a bed to sleep. I was impressed with myself for surviving this long. I was usually in bed shortly after 10 o'clock.

When we finally got our luggage we went out to the lobby where I saw my mother eagerly awaiting Edward and I.

**A/N: So I was trying a different tact on this chapter, I'd appreciate reviews on this tell me what you liked and didn't like. I hope you guys didn't get confused at all, I apologize if you did. Any questions don't hesitate to ask. I know that this chapter was a little uneventful, but it's all part of a set up :D**

**Okay, well hope you all liked! Next chapter should be up either tomorrow or Saturday! Hope everyone has a good weekend!**


	21. Chapter 21

"Bella!" My mom screamed as she ran towards me.

"Hey mom, it's great to see you again!" I replied as I threw my arms around my mom to hug her.

We embraced for a few seconds when my mom whispered in my ear so quietly that I could barely even hear, "You have quite the good looking boyfriend."

I blushed at the comment, even though it wasn't even about me. I always knew he was better than my standards.

I pulled away to make the introductions, "Mom, Edward. Edward, this is my mom Renee."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Renee," Edward said shaking my mom's hand, "I see now where Bella gets her beauty."

Renee, being a teenager at heart started giggling at the complement. When she recovered she replied. "Oh, sorry about that Edward. Thank you so much for the complement. It's so nice to meet you too."

We left the airport after the brief greeting. My mom linked our arms together and started dragging me towards the exit. Poor Edward was left in the dust to bring all the bags. I felt a little bad but Renee had a good grip on me and there was no escaping. I chanced a glance back at Edward, and he wasn't as far behind as I thought he was. He was also grinning widely, and when he saw me look back at him he winked at me. At least he seemed to be having a good time.

As we walked towards the car Renee was talking very excitedly about anything that came to her mind.

"Oh Bella, you're going to adore the new house that Phil and I bought," Renee started to say when we had loaded everything into the car and were on our way. I was sitting in the passenger seat and Edward was in the back. It was odd to be in a car going the speed limit again. Three months driving with Cullen's had gotten me over the fear of going too fast. "You're room is perfect, I think you're going to love it!"

"Thanks mom. Although I can't believe you got a room for me even though I won't be seeing you that much. You could have just made it into a guest room."

"I guess so, but you're probably going to be one of the only people that ever comes over," Renee said as she trailed off into thought. "So, I completely forgot about only having one spare bedroom. I guess you and Edward will either have to share a bed or there's the couch." She said this like it was just a passing thought and that it should be completely natural.

"Er- alright then, sounds good. We'll figure something out," I replied trying to look at Edward's reaction from the side mirror of the car. His expression was just as relaxed as ever though.

Renee continued to talk about all the small things occurring in her life, and I replied whenever it was necessary. I was starting to feel the lack of sleep when we got to my mom's house.

I slowly got out of the car and drifted towards the trunk of the car, only half awake. I picked up my suitcase and lifted it up out of the trunk. I went to place it down on the drive way but I missed, and it landed on my foot.

"Ow ow ow," I said trying not to cry. The sleep that wanted to take over me was overwhelming at that point and it made me want to burst into tears due to the pain in my foot.

Edward came and wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. "Are you okay honey?"

I nodded. The sympathy was making the fight harder to win and tears started to leak out of my eyes.

Edward took all of our luggage and somehow managed to pull both me and the luggage into the house. Renee had just gotten the door open and she looked at us with a warm and inviting smile.

"So what do you think Bella?" Renee asked me.

"It looks really nice mom. Very... colorful."

"I know, it's wonderful! It totally sets the mood. I'll show you guys to your room."

I realized Edward hadn't really said much since we got off the plane. I suppose it was because he didn't want to intrude and nothing was really directed towards him. Edward and I followed my mom silently up the stairs to our room where she bid us a hurried good night. I looked at the clock and discovered that it was 1:33 AM, no wonder I was only half conscious.

"Weird," I said, not really meaning to say it out loud, as I started to look for my pj's.

"What's weird?" Edward questioned me.

"Renee isn't usually the type to leave people alone so quickly. She likes to draw conversations out as long as possible," I replied.

"Maybe she noticed how tired you were and wants you to have a nice long sleep," Edward suggested.

I looked at him baffled, he didn' t know Renee though so I couldn't really say he was stupid for giving such a logical explanation. "Something tells me that's not it. When I lived with her, it was always me telling her to go to bed. It was more like I was the parent."

"I see," Edward said looking a little puzzled at my relationship with my mother.

"Oh well. She means well. I'll be right back Edward. I'm going to go get changed in the bathroom, you can change in here." I was of course, assuming that Edward _was_ okay with us sharing a bed for the weekend. I couldn't stand to see him sleeping on the couch, and I knew there was no way to win the argument of me sleeping on the couch.

I grabbed my toiletry bag and pj's and headed to the bathroom. I changed as quickly as my sleep clouded mind would allow me. I opened my bag looking for my toothbrush. _Crap_. I forgot my toothbrush, how could I forget that. I had everything else that I'd need for the weekend. I felt as if I was doomed to have bad breath and plaque covered teeth for 4 days.

I searched the cabinets in the washroom looking for an extra toothbrush that I could use, with no luck. What a great start to the weekend. I walked back to my room to tell Edward that I was going to look for my mom to see if she had an extra toothbrush lying around somewhere, and that the bathroom was all his. I continued searching the upper level for her, the master bedroom was empty so I headed down stairs. When I was at the bottom of the stair case my brain managed to register the fact that it was the kitchen that I was in. I saw the nearest doorway hoping that it would lead to the living room.

It did. And by the time I took a step into the living room I was wishing it didn't. On the couch, which either me or Edward may have been sleeping on this weekend, was the lean and muscular shirtless Phil covering and kissing what I was assuming to be my mother. That was something on my list of things that I never wanted to see, even if it meant bad breath for a weekend.

I tried to be as quiet as possible as I ran back up the stairs. When I got back into the room Edward was putting our clothes into the dressers and he looked at me with a curious expression when he saw the disturbed look on my face.

"I hope you weren't planning to sleep on the couch. It's a little occupied," I said a slightly out of breath, hoping he'd get the idea and not press for anymore details.

"So, does she have an extra toothbrush for you to use?" Edward snickered while smiling his crooked grin.

I smacked him playfully on the arm, "Not that I know of. So now you'll have to live with Bad Breath Bella." I propped myself up on my toes and kissed him as if to prove a point.

"Mmm, it's not as bad as you make it sound. Nothing a piece of gum can't cure," Edward retaliated as he ran his fingers through my hair examining me. "You are so unbelievably beautiful my Bella."

I smiled up at him and gave him a tight hug. When did I become _his_ Bella. I buried my head in his chest, Iwanted to tell him that I loved him so bad right now. I wasn't sure how much longer I could wait to tell him, but at the same time I wasn't sure if I could get the words out of my mouth.

I loosened the hug just enough so that I could peer into Edward's eyes. The words had to come out now or else they never would.

"I love you," I told him. There seemed to be an echo because the words came from somewhere else at the same time too. It took me a few seconds to realize that Edward had said them to me too. I was trying not to go into shock as we watched each other. I thought that I had felt happy when I first started dating Edward, but that was nothing compared to the happiness that I was feeling right now.

"I love you Bella," Edward whispered in my ear. That caused a couple of tears to fall down my face. I was crying and laughing.

"I love you too Edward."

Edward wiped the escaped tears away from my face. "Why are you crying?" he asked me chuckling silently.

"Because you make me way too happy, I don't know if I deserve it. It's impossible not to love you."

"Silly Bella, you are the nicest person I know. I'm not nearly as perfect as you are Your love is the only thing that I have ever wanted since the day that we met."

I laughed at the conversation that we had almost daily. Well, except for the love parts, those were new, but I wasn't complaining.

Edward caught me off guard and kissed me fully on the lips. It was a tender kiss that was full of love and passion, more than I had ever felt in a kiss before. I gasped in surprise at the intensity as electricity shot through my body. I wrapped my arms around his neck and completely lost myself in the kiss.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed since we had started kissing and was only pulled out of the greatest moment of my life, when Edward whispered in my ear. "I think it's time to go to bed."

I groaned. I wasn't very tired any more at all. Whether it was the shock of seeing my mom with Phil or the revelation that Edward and I shared, I didn't know. But I was pretty sure that I never wanted the current moment to end.

When I made no sign of moving to the bed Edward scooped me up in his arms and kissed my neck "I love you," he whispered in my ear once again.

Edward gently set me down onto the bed and the second that my head hit the pillow, the sleepiness came rushing back to me. He kissed me once more before he came to lay next to me. He put the quilt over both of us and wrapped me his arms.

"I love you Edward," I managed to mutter before the sleep hit me completely.

"I love you too, have a great sleep."

I must have fallen asleep immediately after that because I didn't remember anything until I was woken up later in the night to a bunch of giggles out in the hallway.

"Oh Phil, that tickles. Stop it," I heard a woman say through a fit of giggles.

_Gross_ I thought to myself, my mom and Phil were still awake?

I looked at the clock, it was 4:03. I groaned and pulled the covers closer to me, but an arm got in the way and it startled me. I had forgotten that I was sharing a bed with the man that I loved I turned over to watch him as he was sleeping. He looked so beautiful and peaceful. I couldn't not touch him at that point so draped my arm across his torso and kissed his cheek. A small smile appeared on his face, but he made no other sign that he was awake.

I sighed and curled back up next to him and drifted back to sleep.

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter was shorter than some recent ones. But I couldn't find anything else to really fit into this chapter. Let me know what you think!**

**Amanda :D**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: I'm so sorry that it's taken me a while to update. Life happened again and I haven't been in the right frame of mind to write lately and the one day that I was, I decided to work on my book instead. But here it goes!**

I woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed and content. Before I opened my eyes I just laid there and smiled to myself. I was so lucky to have such a perfect guy holding me in his arms right now. I nuzzled my head in closer to his chest and sighed at the pleasant feeling of being close to him.

I decided that I should probably get up soon and spend some time with my mom. I opened my eyes and regretfully loosened myself in Edward's arms and looked at his face. He was looking back at me, peacefulness covered his face.

"Good morning love," he said as he sweetly kissed me on the lips.

"Morning Edward," I replied returning the kiss. Why couldn't I wake up every morning to one of his wonderful kisses? I suppose life can't be too perfect. "How long have you been awake?"

"A couple of hours."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I demanded, "I wouldn't have minded, especially if it came with one of those kisses of yours."

Edward shrugged, "I was more than content just holding you and watching you sleep. You talk in your sleep sometimes. Did you know that?"

I blushed and nodded. I knew all too well that I talked in my sleep and I remembered some vivid dreams from the past night and I wondered what I had said out loud. "What exactly did you hear?"

"You said my name a few times," Edward answered grinning wickedly, "Okay maybe a bit more than a few times."

My face grew a deeper shade of red while I tried to think up a way to explain why I had said his name so much. I wasn't sure that I wanted to know though, it could be way too embarrassing.

"You said that you loved me a few times too," Edward continued beaming like he was the luckiest person on the planet. "It was simply wonderful to hear you repeat those words again. Even if you weren't fully conscious."

I propped myself up on my side using my elbow as I caressed the side of Edward's face with my other hand. I leaned into him and kissed him passionately on the lips. It was short but sweet, and I moved to his ear and playfully nibbled his ear lobe and then whispered, "I love you Edward Anthony Cullen. My life is incomplete without you."

"Bella," Edward replied sounding a little shocked and slightly out of breath, "I love you too. So much. You alone are my universe. I swear to do anything in my power to protect you and be there for you no matter what."

"Oh Edward!" I cried as I buried my head in his neck. I was shaking with happiness trying not to cry at his proclamation of love. "I love you."

Edward started to stroke my back trying to calm my nerves. I must have been shaking more than I realized, because he scooped me up in his arms and held me as close to him as possible. He soothingly kissed my jaw line and neck, and then finally my lips. It calmed my nerves but caused my blood to start pumping as my excitement grew.

It wasn't a very chaste kiss and it reminded me of the first time Edward and I went a little too far. I wrapped my arms around his neck and lightly trailed my tongue between the crevasse of his lips begging for entrance.

Edward did not allow our tongues to meet but nipped at my bottom lip playfully as he pulled me as close to him as possible. He kissed me deeply again before he gently pulled away and smiled his dazzling crooked grin.

"So, you thought that just because you said the big_ L _word you could get away with some tongue eh?" Edward teased.

He was partially right, although I was pretty sure it was only my subconscious that was trying at the time. I blushed and shrugged as small as possible.

"Well," Edward sighed and continued mischievously, "I suppose that your persistence is one of the things that I love about you so much. You never back down from a challenge. This time around however, you might have to be punished."

I looked at him suspiciously and raised an eyebrow in question, "What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Do you really want to know?" He asked smoothly, a smile lighting his face.

"Yes. I really want to know."

"Alright," he sighed, "You asked for it!"

Edward pressed his lips to mine as fully as possible and caressed my back with both of his hands. If all punishments were this amazing, I would definitely have to misbehave more often. I grinned at the thought, but it quickly disappeared as I discovered that the kiss was just a ploy to distract me from the real punishment.

Edward's hands had moved from my back and were now prodding at my sides.

"Edward," I stammered, "Stop it. That tickles!" I tried to get away while trying to hold in the giggles that were daring to escape my mouth.

"Good," he replied simply as he continued to tickle me and envelope my mouth with his restraining any pleas from escaping.

I wiggled around trying to escape his strong and in control hands, but it wasn't working. He had a dominating grip on me despite how active his fingers were on my sides. We rolled around on the bed gleefully for a few minutes, and before I knew it we were on the floor.

My head had almost hit the hardwood floor as we fell but Edward's hands had magically appeared from my sides to behind my head to act as a cushion. Edward hovered a quarter of an inch over me as he held my head and quickly scanned my body to ensure that nothing had broken off. "Is your head okay?"

"No."

Edward frowned at the response clearly dissatisfied that he wasn't able to prevent it from hitting the floor.

"It's more than okay," I continued not wanting to put him through any more anxiety, "It's fabulous. Because you see, it's being held by an angel at the moment."

"Geez Bella! Don't do that to me. I would have felt so bad if you're head was hurt, it would have been all my fault" Edward exclaimed.

"No, it wouldn't have. I was enjoying myself... and wasn't it supposed to be a punishment anyways?" I teased trying to lighten the mood.

"Bella, you are utterly absurd. You could have been hurt."

"But I wasn't Edward, you protected me just like you said you would. So don't worry about it. Everything is perfectly fine." I smiled at him trying to dazzle him into submission. I was pretty confident that I was failing miserably so I pecked him on the lips once and pushed him up off of me. "Time to start the day."

**A/N: So this chapter was super short! I know. But the next one should be fairly long. And since it's going to be long (possibly the longest) I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to update. But, if you review I'll send you a sneak peek at an upcoming part. It may not be in the next chapter but it's coming soon! And by review, I don't just mean 'I loved it please update soon!' A review with either positive or negative criticism is what is needed for the sneak peek! Thanks have a great weekend!**

**Amanda**


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